Top of the Class
by CatsBalletHarveySpecter
Summary: A college AU where Donna is late for class on the first day and is wearing a white top, it pours rain and a stranger named Harvey gives her his suit jacket to help. It turns out they're in the same class at Harvard Law.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This idea has been bouncing around in my head for a while now and after having so much fun writing my last AU, I decided to go for it. This story is going to be multi-chapter (about 7-8) and I'll do my best to update it as regularly as I can.

This story idea was actually indirectly sparked by May ( darveyscactus) who I was talking to about walking to my class wearing a white top and how it was pouring rain and I was lucky to have had an umbrella, and she said "You should write that" and bam, here we are. And as always, she was a kick ass beta on this, bless her soul.

I'm very excited about this piece, the type of excited I've only ever felt about one other story so I'm really excited to finally share it with you all and would love your feedback (seriously comments fuel me so if you want faster updates, inspire me)!

And with that, let's dive into Boston 2014

* * *

_**Top of the Class **_

_Chapter 1: Elle Woods Has Nothing on Me_

_September 21, 2014_

_Harvard, Boston MA_

.

Textbooks? Check. Fully charged laptop? Check. New designer handbag, a given. She smiles at herself in the mirror before puckering her reddened lips and tossing an auburn curl over her shoulder with a satisfied shrug. Tossing her bag over her shoulder, she gives herself a once over before grabbing her keys and travel mug off the counter and walking out the front door of her new apartment.

She'd opted for a clean, simple look for her first day. A gray pencil skirt and a white blouse, complete with nude pumps and her hair swept back and pinned near the top of her head, leaving only her strawberry bangs to cover her face.

Locking the door to her apartment, she made her way towards the elevator, not wanting to tackle six flights of stairs in her heels. The place was smaller than it appeared in the pictures she'd seen online, but it had a small-town charm to it and compared to the place her family rented in upstate New York, her little student brownstone in Boston was rather homey. She'd officially become a Boston resident just two weeks prior in preparation for her first day at Harvard law, a first day that was set to begin in less than an hour.

She'd always prided herself on two things; being punctual and being fashionable, both different but of equal importance to her. She'd never been late for a class a day in her life and today, on perhaps the most important day of her law school career, she had no intention of breaking her streak.

She'd considered herself a people person for almost as long as she could remember and she knew that first impressions lasted, so she set out to set a perfect first impression on her first day. As a kid, her father always bragged about how his daughter had an extraordinary gift and could read people like no one he'd ever seen, and as she grew up, she learned to hone her skill and discovered she would likely make an excellent lawyer. Not only did she have an aptitude for reading the opposition, but she was quick, bright and she never backed down from a fight, all skills that got her into Harvard law, where she was predicted to rank near the top of the class.

It wasn't uncommon to have people ask her to repeat what she was studying once she told them and over the summer one of her favourite past times was watching the confused look form on people's faces when she told them she was posed to be the top of her class at Harvard, and was not some rich daddy's girl that roamed around an Ivy League campus because they saw it once in a movie.

Her apartment was only a fifteen-minute walk from campus and she didn't have a car with her in Boston so she began her walk to class a little earlier than needed, just in case she got lost. Making a note to herself to pay her rent later that week, she turns her cellphone on silent and drops it back into her bag before she begins her trek to campus. She peers up at the clouds rolling in, the darkening sky making her wish she'd brought an umbrella. It had been uncharacteristically warm for mid-September but she was enjoying the Boston weather for the most part, it wasn't quite as humid as it was in New York and for that her hair was grateful.

Watching as the other students scurried past her on the busy street, running to and from classes or giggling with their friends, a wave of missing home hits her. While she wasn't the type to call herself popular, back home in the city she had a handful of very close friends and she was missing having someone to talk to over a glass of wine. She'd considered finding a roommate before moving to Boston and hadn't had a chance to look since moving so she supposed she was going to have to rely on making friends in her classes; fingers crossed there was at least one person she got along with.

.

.

"Harvey if you don't hurry your ass up, we're going to be late!" Mike calls to his roommate as he tosses his book bag over his shoulder and jingles his keys in his hands.

"Would you relax, I'm coming," Harvey calls, coming up behind him in a white button-down shirt, a suit jacket tossed leisurely over his shoulder.

"What the hell takes you so long to get ready anyways? Your hair still looks like shit," Mike teases as he follows his roommate out the door of their student house and watches as Harvey reaches to fix his hair.

He and Harvey has been roommates for the entire summer and had become close rather quickly. Despite Harvey's family being from Boston he decided he needed to move out for law school so he could get the full college experience, while having some more freedom and Mike happened to be looking for a roommate. Their apartment was small, but it sufficed and they often spent Saturday nights eating a pizza while playing video games, something the space was perfect for.

Mike trailed after Harvey down the long narrow path beneath the oak trees leading to campus, a cool breeze sending a chill through his suit jacket.

"Are you sure we should walk, it looks like it's about to pour?" He asks, peering up at the dark clouds rolling in, the sun suddenly a figment of his imagination.

"I guess I can drive us," Harvey shrugs as they turn back towards where his best up old cruiser is parked and toss their bags into the back seat.

Back in mid-July they'd made a pact that on their first official day of law school they would dress the part. In Mike's case, that meant a sleek navy suit with a matching skinny tie, and in Harvey's, it meant a grey suit jacket with matching pants and a pale blue tie, one of his father's old favourites for good luck.

His dad has never been a tie kind of man, but as a child, Harvey remembered that every time his mother insisted his father wear a tie, he always wore a blue one. He asked why once, and his father told him it was because his mother told him on their first date that blue brought out his eyes, and he always wanted to impress her.

And so, he settled on a blue tie as he got ready that morning, a small tribute to his father on his big day, a day his father was always sure would come. When he was younger, Harvey droned on about wanting to be a lawyer and when he finally finished high school, he had his heart set on Harvard. His father was the only person who never lost faith in him, and up until the day he died, he was constantly reminding Harvey that he could do it, that his dreams could become his goals.

"Think there will be any cute girls in our class?" Mike asks as they pull out of the driveway and begin making their way towards campus.

"What are we, starting high school?" Harvey scoffs, his grip tightening slightly on the wheel.

"What? That's a fair question..."

"Aren't you still seeing that Rachel girl anyways?" Harvey asks with a slight eye roll.

Mike has started dating their next-door neighbor, Rachel at the beginning of August and since then had no time for their typical Saturday night activities. As much as Harvey liked Rachel; she was a sweet girl who was definitely easy on the eyes, he'd been enjoying having a friend around all the time. It's not like he couldn't go out and get a girl of his own, if anything he'd been known to be quiet the womanizer, he just decided to enjoy a relaxing summer before classes started.

"Yes, I thought maybe you'd be interested to see if we have any cute new classmates…" Mike dramatically tosses a wink towards the driver's seat.

"It's been a while since you've had a girl over and I'm worried about you man, maybe you've lost your touch."

"Mike, I guarantee you our class is going to be filled with boring stiffs who think fun is going to bingo night, there definitely isn't going to be anyone I'm interested in."

"I'm just saying dating a future lawyer isn't the worst idea," Mike reasons.

"Nah, two lawyers in one relationship, that's just asking for trouble."

.

.

She's halfway to the campus when the sky begins to cloud over, and a sudden cool breeze causes goosebumps to rise song her arms. Wrapping her arms around her waist she picks up her pace as she continues down the gravel path that leads to the campus building her class was being held in.

Just as the building she's trying to reach becomes visible the wind picks up and it starts pouring, so much so that even after running to the building, she's drenched head to toe. Just her luck that today of all days, the day she decided to wear a black bra beneath a white blouse, it had to rain; so much for a positive first impression. She makes a beeline for the women's room to inspect the damage done by Mother Nature and is shocked to see that aside from the obvious transparency of her top, her makeup is intact and her hair had settled into some manageable natural wet curls. She contemplates running home and changing, but decides against it when she notices through the window next to the sink that it's still raining. She could skip her lecture, but she knows it isn't really an option. Attendance was mandatory for this class and the last thing she needed was for the professor to remember her as the girl who skipped out on the first day.

Flustered, she wanders back into the narrow hall and paces in front of a few student lockers just off to the side of her lecture hall, her hands folded over her exposed chest. She had ten minutes before class was scheduled to begin, so she had to think fast. She considered blow drying the top but didn't see a hand dryer in the washroom. She was weighing her options as she paced the hall when she turned the corner and walked face-first into a man in a suit.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" she cries, reaching out to separate herself from the stranger she had collided with, her hands finding a place on his now dampened chest as she propelled herself away from him. She couldn't help but notice he was incredibly fit for someone so well dressed, her hands lingering on his chest a second longer than they need to before her mind catches up to what's happening, and she pulls them away with reddened cheeks.

"I'm so sorry I got you all wet!" she mumbles, her hands now fiddling with the stranger's jacket in a weird attempt to help dry him off.

She was normally very well put together in front of strangers but the combination of her pre-lecture fluster and the massive grin on the man's face has her stomach in knots and she suddenly feels like a teenage girl fawning over a celebrity crush.

"It's alright, I'm alright," he responds, steadying her hands by taking them in his and removing them from his jacket and placing them back at her sides, his touch sending a chill up her arms.

"The real question is, why are you all wet?" he asks, peering down at her with questioning eyes.

"It's a long story…" she tries to brush it off, not wanting to explain how she was caught in the rain without an umbrella.

"I've got time," he cocks his head and the smile that grows across his face resonates in her mind. She's not usually one to notice a person's smile, but this one, this one was different. This was the type of smile that a person doesn't forget.

"I actually have a class I should be getting to…" she tries to brush him off a second time, wondering why he couldn't take the hint and leave her alone. It was bad enough that she embarrassed herself by literally running into him but now he wanted to have a conversation about her unfortunate morning too?

"Professor Gerard's class?" he asks, stuffing his hands into his pant pockets and rocking back on his heels.

"How'd you know that?" she asks, the red slowly fading from her cheeks as she began to relax.

"I have the same one," he smiles, nodding in the direction of the lecture hall.

"So, you're pacing the hall outside our classroom because you're nervous or?"

"I'm most certainly not nervous!" she snaps, and he puts his hands up as if to say he surrendered and she didn't need to justify why she was pacing outside their classroom.

"Then care to tell me why you're out here and not in there?" he shrugs towards the open door behind her.

"Not that I owe anyone, especially not a stranger I just met, an explanation, but if you must know, I was trying to come up with a solution for a rain-related issue," she explains, quickly glancing down at her very see-through top. She had to hand it to the guy, they'd been talking for nearly five minutes and he hadn't even noticed her bra was peeking through her top. Her mother always told her there was something to be said about a man who was raised to be a true gentleman.

"That's an easy fix, here," he says, taking off his suit jacket as he stepped behind her, draping it over her shoulders.

"I can't take your jacket…" she begins to protest but he cuts her off before she has a chance to finish her sentence.

"Take it, it looks better on you anyway," he smiles, watching as her cheeks darken with his compliment.

A clock chimes in the distance, indicating the hour was up and Harvey peers back over his shoulder into the classroom, "I guess we should get in there," he adds.

"I guess so. Um…" she goes to thank him for his jacket before realizing she doesn't actually know his name.

"Harvey," he reaches out to shake her hand, "Harvey Specter."

"Well thank you, Harvey Specter, I truly appreciate it."

"For a pretty girl like you, always," he grins before turning towards the class and taking the vacant seat next to Mike.

"Dude, what the hell I thought we were doing the suits thing? Where's your jacket?!" Mike whines when Harvey joins him in only a dress top and a tie.

"I put it to good use," he answers smugly, "And for the record, I've still got _it_."

"It?" Mike tries to clarify but is abruptly cut off when the professor enters the room and addresses the class.

She sits two rows in front of him next to a blonde girl he knows through Mike, named Samantha and a brunette he'd met at a party a few weeks back named Scottie. He watches the back of her head as she takes notes, so mesmerized by her flaming red locks he's having a hard time focusing on the lecture behind her. She was unlike any other girl he'd ever seen. Even soaking wet and panicked, she was breathtaking. When he looked down to see who ran into him, his first instinct was to tell the person off, but then his eyes met hers and he couldn't do it, she had him from the second she began to fumble with his jacket.

He realized now as the class wore on that he hadn't even asked her name, and he desperately wanted to know it so he could get to know her better. He wasn't sure what it was but something about her intrigued him. She was different, there was no better way to describe it. She had something most people yearned for, and he was desperate to learn more about her.

.

After tucking his jacket into her pencil skirt in an attempt to salvage her outfit, she strutted into the classroom with her head held high. She was Donna Paulsen, and nothing was going to rattle her on her first day of law school, not even a handsome stranger who decided to spend his first day playing her knight in shining armor.

She has no idea what came over her back there, she was not one to stumble over her own words or become flustered easily, but something about him broke through her typical _Donna_ facade and she had no clue what it was. Sure, he was handsome in a typical twenty-something soon-to-be lawyer way, but she wouldn't be able to pick him out of a crowd upon first impressions. He did have that smile though, a smile she would no doubt recognize from miles away, it was electric, practically contagious.

She strategically chooses the seat next to a brunette who introduces herself as Scottie and seems like the type of girl she wants to be friends with and the vacant seat on her left is soon occupied by a blonde girl that goes by Samantha. The class passes by rather quickly and as she's gathering her things Scottie asks if she wants to grab a coffee at the shop across the street, an offer she quickly accepts in hopes of making a friend.

"I feel like since we've been sitting next to each other we already know each other but I'm Dana Scott," Scottie introduces herself once Professor Gerard dismissed the class.

"Donna Paulsen," she replies before turning to face the blonde.

"Samantha Wheeler," she introduces herself.

"Would you guys want to grab a coffee maybe? I feel like I don't know many people in town and I could definitely use some caffeine," Scottie asks both girls.

"I would love to but I actually have to run, I have a class to get to, maybe next time?" Samantha asks as she tucks her laptop into her bag and tosses it over her shoulder.

"For sure," Scottie says, turning her attention towards Donna.

"I'd love to," Donna replies, gathering up her notebook and her pens as Samantha flashed them both a small smile and excused herself.

"That's a super cute outfit," Scottie says, peering down at the gray suit coat Donna had tucked into her skirt of almost an identical shade.

"Thanks, it was a bit of a last-minute decision," Donna chuckles, only now realizing how well Harvey's jacket matched the dark shade of her skirt. If she didn't know any better it looked like the over-sized coat she was wearing was part of her outfit all along.

.

He tries to catch up with her after class, but there are too many people leaving the classroom and she's too far ahead of him by the time he reaches the hall. If he knew her name, he would call after her, but for now, he was left to watch her walk away as Mike joins him.

"Is that girl wearing your jacket?" Mike asks, following his gaze to the redhead making her way down the hall.

"Let's go, I need coffee," he responds, ignoring Mike's question and leading the way towards the coffee house across the street.

.

.

The coffee shop is packed with students when Donna and Scottie arrive, so Donna saves them a table in the back while Scottie orders her coffee. She peers around the campus coffee house as she waits, smiling to herself as she reads the quirky quotes plastered across the wall behind the bar. Quotes like, "I_f you never try, you'll never know_" and "_Take chances_" were hand-painted in silver paint on the cream coloured wall that faced the front of the store, and they were the first thing her eye was drawn to upon entering. For such a small, hip place, they stood out to her and she found it charming. The shop contained old wooden bar stools that lined a bar height table that ran along the large glass window that painted the front of the shop and the back was filled with quaint red leather sofas and wooden tables with an assortment of different chairs surrounding each.

"So," Scottie startles her as she returns to the table, coffee in hand, "we survived our first day of class."

"We did," Donna smiles, "If only it would stay this easy."

"For you, it might…" Scottie replies, plopping herself into the chair opposite Donna's.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you kidding me? You answered over half the question he asked in class and even corrected him, you're smart Paulsen," Scottie explains before taking a large swig of her coffee.

"I'm not…"

"Don't be modest, own it. My mom told me that's what the best lawyers do."

"Smart lady," Donna smiles, "She must be so proud of you."

"She is, she misses me already though."

"Where are you from?" Donna asks, leaning back in her chair.

"Washington. What about you?"

"Manhattan," she answers with a small grin.

"Oh, I've always wanted to go there! I've heard it's beautiful!" Scottie gushes, her sudden excitement catching Donna off guard.

"I love it there, I'm hoping to work at a firm in the city after this" she explains her plan to become a corporate lawyer at a major firm to Scottie, who nods along as Donna details her plan.

"Well, I'm going to grab a coffee, I'll be right back," Donna says, excusing herself for some much-needed caffeine.

.

"I'll be at that table over there," Mike gestures to a vacant table at the front of the coffee shop while Harvey waits at the end of the bar for his order. His eyes scanning the crowd walking past the window for a glimpse of red. He knows he'll see her in class, but he was still kicking himself for not getting her name. Mike teased him the entire walk from the lecture hall about how he gave his jacket away and didn't even get the girl he gave it to's name, let alone her phone number and while normally Mike's antics didn't get to him, this time he was bothered because Mike had a point. He isn't sure what possessed him to give her his expensive suit jacket, and he wasn't even thinking about how he would get it back, but the old Harvey, the one that had mastered picking up girls would have been so disappointed in him.

"Black, two sugars, a splash of vanilla!" the Barista calls and he reaches for the cup she places down on the bar only for his fingers to collide with a small manicured hand.

"I'm-" he begins to apologize before looking up and spotting her, the redhead still wearing his jacket, and somehow it looked like it was her jacket all along.

"I'm sorry, first you steal my jacket and now you're trying to steal my coffee?" he stares down at the girl in front of him with a mischievous grin plastered across his face. He can hardly believe his luck, he was just thinking about her and now here she was standing in front of him wearing his suit jacket.

"Your coffee? I hate to break it to you, but this is mine" she smirks down at the _Donna_ written across the side of the cup.

Jackpot. Her name was Donna.

"And I didn't steal your jacket, you offered it to me," She clarifies, unable to suppress a smile from breaking out across her face.

"You drink your coffee with two sugars and vanilla?" He raises an eyebrow at her with his question, his hands settling on the counter top next to her coffee.

"Is there any other way to drink a coffee?" She retorts, her tone dripping with sass seeing as she clearly took her coffee that way.

"Absolutely not," he smirks, reaching for the second cup that had been placed next to hers that read _Harold_.

"I thought it was Harvey?" She flirts, noticing the messy handwriting scrawled on his drink.

"Maybe I just want to keep you guessing," he flirts back, leaning towards her ever so slightly.

"You didn't even know I'd be here," She points out, "unless you're following me now?" She adds with a laugh.

"A happy accident," he replies, popping a lid on his cup and passing her one so she can do the same.

They stand in silence for a brief moment as Donna struggles to successfully put the lid on her coffee and Harvey awkwardly shuffles his feet trying to think of something to say.

"You never told me your name," he states quickly and bluntly as she reaches for a sleeve to put around her cup, fiddling with it like she did with the lid.

"You never asked," she grins with a slight raise of her eyebrows.

"Maybe we can start again, I'm Harvey," he says, extending his hand to shake hers.

"Donna," she replies as she shakes his hand.

"So Donna, where are you from?"

"I'm sorry, before you try and hit on me, I think you should know, I don't date men in the same program as me," she explains, figuring it's probably best to be open about her intentions.

She'd made a promise to herself before school started that she wouldn't get involved with any of the men in her class. She knew from past experience that relationships, or more importantly break ups could be complicated and messy, and the last thing she needed was to jeopardize her career for some boy.

"Who says I was going to try and hit on you?" He asks.

"Were you?"

"Maybe…" he admits, a subtle blush creeping up in his cheeks.

"But now that I know you aren't interested, and you know that I'm a man who respects your _ridiculous_ decision not to let me hit on you, you won't think it's odd when I ask if you're going to the pub night tomorrow?"

"I haven't decided yet, why?" she eyes him curiously.

"Well I was thinking maybe you could give me your number and we could meet up before it, as friends, obviously, you could even bring my jacket back to me," he explains, leaning on the bar with one hand after placing his coffee down next to hers.

"Now that just seems like a perfect excuse to get my number," she giggles, admiring his dedication and effort.

"You'll see when we hang out tomorrow that I don't need an excuse to get a girls number."

"Good, because you might see me tomorrow, but you're going to have to earn my phone number," she flirts, puckering her lower lip as she mirrored his position leaning on the counter.

"I gave you my jacket, shouldn't that count for something?" He asks.

"Something," she winks before reaching for a cup and turning on her heel to walk back towards the table Scottie was waiting at.

He watches her walk away before grabbing his cup and with a shake of his head he goes to join Mike. Donna. Her name was Donna, and boy were his instincts right, she was something else.

Turning his cup over in his hand, he notices a D peeking out from beneath the sleeve cover she'd put on her cup and he realizes he must have grabbed her drink by mistake.

He's almost back at the bar when he notices there's something else written beneath the sleeve. Removing it, he reveals the three numbers printed next to her name in pink, three numbers that look like the start of a phone number.

It suddenly dawned on him that he didn't grab the wrong cup, that she must have switched them on purpose. But, when did she have time to write her number? And how did she know he was going to ask for it?

The more he thought about it, the more intrigued he was and by the time he joined Mike at their table, his mind was preoccupied in the mystery that was a red headed woman named Donna.

"We're going to that pub night tomorrow, right?" He asks as he slides into the seat next to Mike.

"I thought so? I think Rachel and a few of her friends wanted to come, why?"

"I just want to go, maybe make a few new friends," he lies, knowing he'd be on the lookout for her tomorrow night, the girl who'd stolen his jacket and won't let him hit on her. The same girl who knew almost every answer in their class earlier that day, a fact that both made him jealous and drove him crazy. A girl named Donna.

.

"What took you so long?" Scottie asks when Donna finally rejoins her.

"Sorry about that, I ran into someone I knew," Donna explains, and while not the full truth, it wasn't exactly a lie either.

"Hey, do you have any plans tomorrow night? I was thinking of checking out the pub night," Donna adds, before making plans for Scottie to come over so they could get ready together the next day. She may have just met the girl, but she knew they were going to be great friends.

"So, you never told me where you bought that jacket" Scottie says as they begin talking about what they're going to wear to the pub night.

"I borrowed it actually, tomorrow I have to return it."

"That's a shame, it really does look like it was made for you. You should just ask whoever you borrowed it from if you can keep it."

"I'm not sure how well that will go over, but it might just be worth a shot," she smiles, raising her coffee cup to her lips and taking a long sip.

"Why does your cup day Harold?" The brunette asks.

"They must have made a mistake, I've never met anyone who drinks their coffee the way I do."

.

.

"He just gave you his jacket?" Scottie stares at her wide eyed through the mirror as she applied a coat of rose coloured lipstick.

"He did," she replies with a coy smile while applying a darker shade of red to her own lips.

"You are _sooooo_ smitten oh my god," Scottie teases, reaching for her glass of half finished wine and downing the rest.

"I am not!" Donna objects, knowing her friend was right. She'd spent the entire day thinking about what she would say to him if she ran into him and what she would wear to make him notice her.

The two of them spent the afternoon playing dress up in Donna's closet while indulging with a bottle of wine before they began to get ready for the law students' pub night. Donna learned that her instinct about Scottie had been right and the two of them spent the afternoon laughing like they'd known each other for days. In addition to making one good friend, Scottie knew a girl in the year above them from a leadership club she'd joined that she and Donna invited to Donna's so they could all head to the event together, something Donna was eternally grateful for.

Dressed in a fitted black long sleeve dress and nude pumps, Donna quickly touches up her makeup before joining Scottie who had left to answer the door.

"Donna, this is Rachel," Scottie introduces the brunette standing in the doorway.

"Nice to meet you," Donna smiles at her.

"You're apartment is beautiful, you have this whole place to yourself?" Rachel asks, looking around the apartment decorated with various shades of blues and whites.

"I do, I'll probably need to find a roommate eventually though…"

"Well if you're ever looking, let me know, I can't stand my current roommate. She's always leaving things laying around and blasting music that shouldn't even be considered music," Rachel laughs.

"Oh my god I'm sorry you just met me and here I am complaining about my horrible roommate, quite a first impression huh?" she adds which makes Donna laugh.

"Don't even worry about it, you might be as weird as me and I think we're going to get along," Donna says before leading the way into the kitchen and fetching a wine glass for Rachel and the half empty bottle of wine.

"So, are these things usually lame? Because if so I think we're going to need a lot more wine before we head out," Donna asks while pouring Rachel a glass and refilling her and Scottie's empty glasses.

"They're usually pretty fun actually, this one should be good," Rachel replies, accepting the wine handed to her.

"You're just saying that because Mike's going to buy you drinks all night long," Scottie whines, hopping up on the counter between Rachel and Donna.

"Who's Mike?" Donna asks, staring between the two brunettes.

"Rachel's younger man," Scottie teases, playfully swatting at Rachel's arm.

""He's not even a full year younger than me!" Rachel protests, rolling her eyes at her friend.

"He's in our year," Scottie fills Donna in.

"Nothing's wrong with a younger man, especially one that's going to be a lawyer," Rachel remarks, taking a sip of her wine with a self satisfied smirk.

"You might not be the only one getting bought drinks all night, Donna met someone!" Scottie squeals, the combination of wine and giggling making her hyper.

"I didn't meet someone…" Donna corrects and is met with a questioning look from Rachel.

"Yes you did! He gave her his jacket yesterday and then asked if she was coming tonight," Scottie explains excitedly.

"I told you, I'm not interested in dating someone from our class," Donna sighs, downing the contents in her glass in one fluent gulp. She wasn't interested in dating someone in the program, she wouldn't allow herself to be.

"Who said anything about dating him?" Scottie raises an eyebrow at her which causes all three girls to burst out giggling.

"So that's why you're dressed like_ that_," Rachel gives Donna a once over before her gaze settles on the redhead's exposed neck line.

"Like what?" she peers down, suddenly very self-conscious.

"Like he won't be able to take his eyes off you because you look smokin'," Rachel explains and a smile breaks out across Donna's face. For two girls she just met, Rachel and Scottie really did wonders for her confidence and she's pretty sure she'd like it if they stuck around for a while.

"It's not like that…" Donna mumbles, fiddling with her thumbs while trying to come up with anything that will change the subject.

"What was his name anyways?" Scottie asks, hopping down from her spot on the counter and crossing the kitchen.

"Harvey," Donna answers without hesitation.

"Specter?!" Rachel practically spits out her mouthful of wine.


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: You all know who beta'd it ( darveyscactus)... please thank her and be sure to check out her post 9x10 story "Second Time Around" because it involves some wedding planning and a cute Darvey kid and come on, who doesn't love that combination?_

_I didn't intend on updating this so quickly but some much of this chapter resonated with me in a way only one other piece of dialogue I've done previously has and I hope you enjoying reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it._

_All I have to say about this story is, we are no where _near_ the end, and I bet you it isn't going where you think it's going ;)_

_Happy Reading - xxS_

* * *

**Ch 2: Salt, Shot, Lime, Repeat**

**.**

September 22, 2014

_Havard Law, Class of 2017 Pub Night_

"I thought you said these social events were a waste of time?" Mike yells to Harvey from down the hall where he's putting on his shoes.

"I never said that," he replies, stumbling out of his room wearing a black v-neck with a knit sweater thrown over top and a pair of jeans.

"Yesterday when I asked you if you wanted to come you said you would rather watch paint dry?" Mike states, knowing that Harvey knows his memory is practically perfect and he remembers their entire conversation.

"I just, I changed my mind…"

"Yeah, and I believe that like I believe in Santa Claus, what's her name?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he plays stupid, hoping Mike will drop it.

"Harvey…"

"Mike…"

"Fine, don't tell me. But don't expect me to play wingman when we get there. And trust me, you're missing out because I am one kick ass wingman," Mike boasts, a proud smile spreading across his face.

"Donna. Her name is Donna," Harvey finally concedes, knowing he needed Mike to be on his side tonight if he wanted things to go well.

"Is she the girl who was wearing your jacket yesterday?" Mike prys as he follows Harvey out onto the porch and down the front steps.

"Yes…"

"Are you going to tell me more about her or are we going to just play twenty questions all night?"

"I don't know anything else about her…" Harvey admits, shoving his hands into his pockets as they begin their stroll towards the campus pub. It was a crisp fall night and the sun had already set, leaving them to walk down the dimly lit pathway with the first batch of fallen leaves crunching beneath their feet.

"Let me get this straight, all you know about this girl is that her name is Donna and that she's in our class?"

"That's not true, I also know she looked really good in my jacket," Harvey smirks, his mind wandering back to the way his jacket blended in with the rest of her outfit so effortlessly and the confidence she wore it with.

"Why go through so much effort for some girl you don't even know?" Mike asks.

"I don't know, she was just...different," he explains, staring down at his feet as he answers.

"Alright well, let's hope she shows up tonight so you can show her just how charming Harvey Specter is," Mike pats him on the back as they continue with their walk to campus.

.

.

After ordering a round of drinks at the bar, the three girls find themselves standing near a table on the far side, opposite the DJ. The campus pub wasn't exactly a pub as much as it was a mixture between a club and a typical pub. A few people were out on the make-shift dance floor but most students were seated at tables around the room, enjoying the music over some drinks. Much like the coffee shop they'd visited the day before, the pub had a rustic, homey feeling that made Donna feel at ease, and she immediately felt relaxed upon settling into a vacant booth.

It turned out, Scottie's friend Rachel was dating a guy named Mike who was also in their class and just happened to be Harvey's roommate, so her chances of running into him if he showed up were pretty much guaranteed; a fact that both thrilled and terrified her. She wasn't sure why she was letting herself get worked up over this, she wasn't looking for a relationship and she certainly wasn't looking for a one night stand or a meaningless fling.

The girls chatted about a few things, where they all grew up, what their families were like and within the hour they were tipsy and had become fast friends. They discovered they all had a lot in common, they liked similar music and television shows and they were all huge theatre fans, something Donna was thrilled to learn.

After excusing herself to find the women's room, Donna begins to weave through the crowd, her eyes searching for a restroom sign while also being on high alert for any signs of him. She knows it's stupid, Rachel told her Mike and his roommate would meet them at the bar but she can't help herself from scanning the crowd.

On her way back to the table, she bumps into a tall blonde man carrying a glass of beer which he just manages to save from spilling.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention," she mumbles an apology.

"It's my fault, I wasn't either," he flashes her a smile, "Hi, I'm Bronson."

"Donna," she introduces herself.

.

.

He's on the lookout for flashes of red the minute they stroll into the pub, which is already crowded with a herd of new and old law students. Mike stops to say hello to a few friends by the bar so he makes his way towards the back when he spots Mike's girlfriend Rachel and Scottie sitting at a table off to the side. Weaving his way through the crowd, he takes a seat at their table and waves hello.

"Ladies," he greets as slides into the seat next to Scottie. He'd only met Scottie a handful of times but she'd always been friendly with him and Rachel was over at the house almost every day so they were comfortable around each other.

"Where's your sidekick?" Scottie smirks, knowing how much Mike and Harvey hated being referred to as each other's side kicks - or so Rachel had told her.

"Hopefully getting us some drinks," he remarks, his gaze still wandering aimlessly about the bar.

"I'd try looking a little more to your left," Rachel teases when she realizes what he's doing.

"What?" he asks while taking her instruction and sure enough, he spots her, laughing at something a taller blonde haired man is saying.

"How did you…?"

"She_ may_ have mentioned you," Rachel responds, watching as Harvey's cheeks redden and his ears flush.

"Really?" he asks, a hint of hope in his voice.

"Don't get all excited, she simply said she met someone named Harvey," Rachel elaborates, not wanting to give Harvey false hope.

"If you ladies would excuse me," he says before getting up and marching in her direction.

"How can two people who just met have it so badly for each other?" Scottie asks they both watch Harvey leave the table.

"Honestly, I don't know," Rachel replies just as Mike spots them and begins making his way over.

.

"Excuse me ma'am, you haven't borrowed any suits jackets lately have you?" he calls out, coming up behind her wearing a shit-eating grin that tells her he interrupted her conversation purposefully.

"Harvey," she says in a way that makes him temporarily forget everything but his own name.

"Donna," he tosses back, a playful tone lingering in his voice.

"Who's your friend," he adds, turning his attention to the lanky blonde she was previously talking to.

"Hey man, I'm Bronson, second year," he reaches out to shake Harvey's hand, his gaze shifting between Donna and Harvey after having picked up on the weird charged energy radiating between them.

"Harvey, first year," he replies before releasing the man's hand.

"Well, it was nice to meet you both, I should get going," Bronson excuses himself, sending Donna a tight lipped smile before leaving her alone with Harvey.

"Were you trying to scare the nice man away?" she asks, folding her hands over her chest defensively.

"Yes," he replies and she's taken aback by his honesty.

"You look incredible, by the way," he adds with an innocent smile that makes her stomach flutter as he gives her dress a once over. His eyes had been drawn to the way the dark fabric clung to her every curve his entire way over here, and up close he had to admit, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself. Almost didn't recognize you without the suit."

"I wanted to wear it but I seem to have misplaced the jacket," he teases, thrilled to see his statement bring a smile to her face.

"So, can I buy you a drink? As a friend of course," he asks, mocking her earlier declaration that she wasn't interested in him as anything more than a friend.

"I can't say no to a free drink, now can I?" she beams, allowing her own gaze to roam across his torso and appreciate how well he pulled off a casual look.

"Well you could, but then how would I get to know you?"

"Hmm, I suppose that would be pretty hard. It's a good thing I'm going to let you buy me a drink then," she smirks, leading the way towards the bar.

Twenty minutes later they find themselves seated at a table next to the bar, laughing about a story Harvey was telling her regarding Mike and a cycling accident. After hearing about her family; she was from Brooklyn but her family moved to Manhattan before her sixth birthday, she had an older sister named Emily and she'd wanted to be a lawyer since age twelve, they moved into telling stories about their first few weeks in Boston.

Harvey told her about where he grew up, not too far from the campus and how his father always encouraged him to pursue law school. He doesn't however mention his father's passing, instead opting to tell her more about the art his mother made and about his older brother Marcus who was already married and had a daughter. Talking to her is easy and before he knows it they're two drinks in and laughing about how she was caught in the rain before class.

He tells her about how he and Mike became roommates and how Mike met Rachel, a story she fawns over and he can't help but find her enchanting. He learns that she enjoys movie trailers more than she enjoys movies and he tells her about his secret obsession with super hero films. He can't remember the last time he sat and talked to someone, and really_ talked_ to them. He wanted to know everything and anything about her and for the first time in a long time, he wanted to open up to someone about himself.

"You and Mike really just left his shoe there?" she giggles, her hand flying to cover her mouth as she leaned back in her seat.

"What else were we supposed to do?! The sprinklers just turned on!" he begins to chuckle along with her.

"You live a pretty exciting life, don't you?" she smiles, a glimmer in her eye.

"Life is like this," he gestures with his hand around his waist, "It's not my fault I like to live it like this," he raises his palm up over his head with a satisfied smirk.

"Those are some pretty good words to live by," she replies, the boyish charm emanating through his smile sending a jolt through her body.

"What about you? Are there any wise words that you live by?" he asks, dropping his hand down to the table where it falls dangerously close to where her's is already resting.

"Hmmm, I've never really thought about it before," she voices, "I'll let you know," she concludes, her pinky brushing against his thumb as she shifts her hand which causes him to blush.

"You realize that means you're going to have to see me again, right?"

"We do have three classes together…"

"But we have to pay attention in class, doesn't leave much time for you to tell me your newly discovered life motto, now does it?" he smirks, his hand now semi-covering hers as his thumb traces a small pattern across the back of her hand.

Her hand twitches at the initial contact before she relaxes beneath his hold and a small smirk tugs at the corner of his lips when she doesn't pull away. A small victory. For someone who wasn't interested in dating men in her program, she sure was heavily flirting with him, not that he minded, he just hoped she wasn't leading him on.

"I guess not, we might have to see each other outside of class, you know, if you have time," she concludes with a content smile, her eyes finding his as she speaks.

"I can definitely make time," he replies, not even attempting to disguise the desire in his tone.

"So, tell me more about…" he begins to ask her a question before the music and the sounds of the crowd drowns out his voice and she finds herself leaning towards him in an attempt to hear.

"What!?" she calls over the noise, wondering why the volume of the bar suddenly increased mid-conversation.

"Follow me, I have an idea," he yells, hoping down from his seat and extending his palm to take her hand.

She follows him through the crowded bar, her fingers intertwined with his and notices a band setting up in the corner, the culprit of the sudden noise elevation. He pauses before pushing through an exit door in the far corner to make sure no one is watching them before pulling her through the door and up a dingy stairwell, never releasing his hold on her hand.

"If you were planning on murdering me I'm sure there were much simpler ways," she teases while they approach a second door at the top of the stairs.

He pushes the door open and she's immediately met with a rush of cool fall air, the breeze shifting her curls and causing goosebumps to spread down her arms.

"Here," he says, handing her the sweater she hadn't even realized he'd removed as he leads the way across the roof of the bar to an abandoned park bench near the edge.

Accepting the sweater, she wraps it around her shoulders and follows, taking a seat next to him and looking out over the campus. The sun had already faded but she could still see the fallen leaves that littered the campus ground beneath the fluorescent lights that lined the walkways. Pulling his sweater closer to her body, she crosses one heel over the other before turning to face him. She's surprised to see that his gaze his already fixed on her when she turns around, and she directs her attention to the ground as she tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"This is beautiful," she comments, "How did you know it was up here?"

"My brother showed it to me, years ago. He went to Harvard for a year before he decided to pursue a career in the culinary industry and I came up to visit him one weekend. He took me out to the bar and well, I needed a few moments to myself and I stumbled upon this."

"I bet girls go crazy over it, it's private, romantic…"

"I've actually never brought anyone else up here… I've only been back up here once since I first found it," he interrupts her rambling.

"Oh"

"Yeah."

"So, your brother can cook?" she asks changing the subject for both of their sakes.

"He can, he actually just opened up a restaurant downtown..."

He continues to tell her about the restaurant Marcus had opened, detailing the menu and even explaining how he helped come up with the name for the place, _Buca_. He knows her just met her, but talking to her like this, it feels like he's known her for years. It was like he was catching up with an old friend rather than getting to know someone new.

The next half hour is filled with free flowing conversation as her laughter fills the air and she can't remember the last time she clicked with someone so well. The best part was that even though they were flirting with each other, their conversation had nothing to do with their desire to go home with one another, it simply just worked. She told him a few of her favourite childhood memories and laughed as he told her about some of his, their hands naturally falling together once again on the middle of the bench as they talked.

She's not sure when she slides closer to him, but soon she's close enough she can rest her head on his shoulder, and when the conversation begins to wind down, she does just that, taking a moment to just enjoy the company.

She said she wouldn't let herself fall for him and his stupid seductive grin. She told herself she didn't have time to date, she was already in a relationship with her studies. And yet, she couldn't stop herself from flirting with him, from wondering if he was going to try and kiss her, from wanting to go home with him. Maybe her rule was made to be broken. Maybe, just this one time, she didn't have to play be the rules. Judging by the way he held her hand tighter as she leaned further into his side, he was thinking the same thing; he wanted this just as badly as she did.

"We should probably get back down there, my friends are going to wonder where I ran off to," she sighs, the fact that she told Scottie and Rachel she'd be back hours ago suddenly coming to mind.

She reluctantly slides away from him and gets up, turning towards the staircase at the exact same time that he stands up and she crashes face first into his chest, his sweater falling from her shoulders and onto the ground.

He reaches for her waist and steadies her, a soft chuckle escaping his lips as she peers up at him.

"We've really got to stop bumping into each other like this," he says, not releasing his hold on her despite her having found her footing.

"Why? It worked out pretty well for you the first time, didn't it?" she replies, a sudden confidence fuelling her.

"Only the first time?" he cocks his head and uses his hands to pull her closer, her face so close to his he can practically taste her last drink.

"I think it's working out pretty well this time too," she whispers, her heart racing as he moves one hand to gently cup her cheek.

"Donna I-" he begins, his voice an equal blend of soft and raspy before the insistent blare of his cell phone interrupts him. Annoyed, he reaches into his back pocket and silences it, before returning his attention to the redhead who's gaze had not left his lips, her eyes swimming with need.

His phone rings a second time and with an irritated "What," he steps away from her and answers it with a hiss.

"Yup, we'll be right there," he sighs as he hangs up the phone and slides it back into his pocket.

"That was Rachel, they were looking for you but they couldn't call you because your purse is with them," he explains, sticking his hands in his front pockets as he details the call.

"Oh, I guess we should get back then," she sighs as she steps away from him, pulling the door to the stairwell open and beginning her descent with a bitter Harvey in toe. They climb down the stairs in silence, neither wanting to be the first to address their _almost_ moment, and both not knowing what else to say.

They spot their friends near the far side of the bar and Harvey follows as Donna leads the way through the crowd, his hand ghosting over the small of her back but not daring to touch it.

"I thought you two got out of here already," Mike says with a suggestive smirk.

"Why would we leave?" Donna asks as they rejoin the group.

"So the eye banging could become…"

"Mike!" Rachel cuts him off in a warning tone.

"Here Donna, in case we_ lose_ you again," Scottie smirks as she hands Donna her purse.

"Thanks," she smiles, tucking the bag under her arm.

"Harvey, were you always wearing that? Weren't you freezing when we walked here?" Mike asks, eyeing Harvey who is now wearing only his t-shirt. Shit, his sweater must still be on the roof.

"Who needs more drinks?" Harvey bursts, hoping the beverages will help steer the conversation away from him.

He returns with five beers, distributing them to the group before raising his own glass and proposing a toast, "To new friends," he says, eyes fixated on Donna.

"To new friends!" the group toasts.

.

The group chatted for a while longer, getting to know each other over their beers but as the night wore on, Scottie had excused herself to chat with a handsome young man at the bar and Rachel had dragged Mike onto the makeshift dance floor, much to his protest, leaving Donna alone with Harvey once again.

They decide to grab a refill on their beers and find themselves standing along the edge of the dance floor leaning against a standing table, incredibly tipsy.

"I would ask you to dance but then you would see what a horrible dancer I am," he admits, his hands taking up residency in his pockets once again.

"I would say yes but then you would see what a great dancer I am, and I wouldn't want to make you feel bad," she smiles.

"Should we go and grab your sweater?" she asks, leaning closer so she doesn't need to yell over the music.

"I'll grab it tomorrow, don't worry about it," he replies.

"Are you sure? I don't mind running to grab it," she says, feeling guilty about losing it.

"You're incredible, why aren't we together?" he slurs, leaning in close enough she can smell the alcohol on his breath, the second beer giving him a sudden burst of confidence.

"We don't even know each other…"

"Maybe that's the whole point," he says back, a sudden sobriety washing over him.

"Who says two perfect strangers can't fall in love?" he adds.

"Someone who doesn't believe in fate," she reasons, wondering where his sudden forwardness is coming from, but guessing it was stemming from the liquid courage pulsing through his veins.

"You don't?"

"I believe in luck, but fate, not really…"

"Why not? Did someone break your heart?"

"No-"

"Then?"

"Just because I don't believe there's someone for everyone, doesn't believe I think there's nothing for anybody."

"I can't believe you don't believe in fate," he muses.

"Alright, this conversation is bringing me down, I think we need tequila shots," she smirks devilishly, grabbing his hand and tugging him in the direction of the bar.

"Donna, are you sure that's a good idea?" he asks, stopping in his tracks which causes her to turn around and come reeling back towards him, her fingers still intertwined with his.

"I'm always sure" she half-whispers half-speaks, leaning in so she's meer inches away from his face once again.

"You are, aren't you? Is there anything you're not sure of?" he asks, allowing his thumb to run along the back of her hand, their closeness making his heart pound in his ears as his nose is overcome with a mixture of vanilla and alcohol.

"Not really, I tend towards sure things," she explains with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"So you don't take risks?" he challenges, taking a slight step forward and daring to grab her waist with his free hand, pulling her flush against his chest. He's playing a dangerous game now, risking being rejected right here in the middle of the bar, but the look in her eyes tells him to keep going, and he's not one to fear rejection.

"I take plenty of risks," she replies softly, her eyes finding his as she peers up at him. She likes this game they're playing, the back and forth and the banter, it makes her pulse quicken and her mind race. There weren't many people who captured her attention, but Harvey, he was a puzzle she was dying to solve and in this moment, her head clouded with a combination of liquid courage and desire that makes her dizzy, she forgets her rule about not dating men in her program ever existed. Screw it, she was going to throw caution to the wind. She was Donna Paulsen and for once in her life she was going to do something reckless just because she wanted to. She was going to give into her desires and she wasn't going to apologize for it; something she decides would probably be a good new motto to live by, she would have to remember to tell it to Harvey at some point.

"Prove it," he leans over and whispers above her left ear.

Before he can step back she has her palms planted firmly in the center of his chest and her lips pressed against his in an awkward closed-lip kiss. It takes him a moment to process what's happening but once he does he relaxes into the kiss and her tongue quickly slips past his as she pulls him closer. His arms encompass her waist as he matches her tenacity, kissing her back with an equally sloppy desperateness.

It's Donna who breaks the kiss, slowly pulling back while keeping a hold of his shirt in her balled fists, her hazel eyes glued on his.

"Donna -"

"Let's grab that shot," she smirks, tugging him in the direction of the bar once again, not allowing him to comment on the kiss they just shared.

She motions for the bartender to bring two shots over and places the single lime he brings over between them.

"I guess we'll have to take turns," she gestures towards the lime on the counter.

"Ladies first," he smirks, ever the gentlemen.

"If you insist," she jokes before raising her hand to her mouth and licking from her wrist to her thumb, her eyes staying trained on his as he watched her.

"Do you mind?" she smirks, tilting her head towards the salt and reaching out with her dampened hand so he could pour salt over it.

Once he's done, she leans down and licks the salt off her palm in one swift motion before downing her shot and placing the lime in her mouth. She places the lime back on the table and crosses her legs so her foot is between his calf and the bar, leaning back on her bar stool, satisfied with herself.

"Your turn," she instructs, reaching for the salt and waiting for him to lick his palm so she could mirror his actions from a minute prior.

He does as she instructs, using his tongue to dampen his skin before she covers the area with a small trail of salt that he eventually finds with his tongue before reaching for his shot glass. He closes his eyes as he downs the amber liquid, feeling it's burn as it makes its way down his throat, only opening them again when he's desperate for relief in the form of the lime.

He panics when he doesn't spot on the table, turning to her with wide eyes when he realizes she's smirking. He tosses a hand up as if to ask where it went and in response she widens her smile to reveal the lime, her eyes daring him to take it from between her teeth.

He doesn't need to be asked twice and before she can react he's leaning over in his seat, his lips fused to hers as he steals the lime from her mouth. Keeping it tucked against the inside of his cheek, he kisses her a second time, allowing his hands to cup her cheeks as he rises out of his seat and steps towards her. He breaks the kiss for a moment, pausing to toss the lime back onto the counter before clumsily taking her face in his hands and kissing her again. Their kisses are desperate, passionate and fueled by desire, both of them allowing their hands to roam the other freely, temporarily absent minded to their location.

Harvey is the first to break the kiss this time and rather than resuming it like he so desperately feels he needs to, he takes her hand and pulls her towards the door of the pub, catching a cab and the taste of her lips the only two things on his mind.

.

"I saw that one coming," Mike chuckles to Rachel and Scottie, who had recently rejoined them near the dance floor as he watches Harvey and Donna kissing at the bar.

"I think everyone with eyes saw that one coming," Scottie jokes as the three of them watch Harvey lead Donna out of the bar, his arm wrapped firmly around her waist.

"Do you think it'll work out between them? I mean with her rule and all?" Rachel asks the group, directing her question more towards Scottie than her boyfriend.

"I hope so, they'd be cute together," she smiles before adding, "What do you think Mike?"

"About those two? Thunder and lightning," he replies immediately causing both girls to turn and stare at him with empty and lost expressions.

"What?"

"Thunder and lightning. It's like when there's a storm, there's always this pause between a flash of lightning and a roar of thunder and it's just filled with this charged energy because you know what's coming next, but you have no idea when it's coming or what the magnitude of it will be. It's just this raw charged moment that hangs in the air and you know something strange is about to happen, something magical. The have that energy about them, like they live in that charged moment," he explains to an open-jawed Rachel and Scottie.

"When did you become such a poet?" Rachel teases, nudging into his side.

"You know most girls would call me romantic," he pouts, dropping his head onto her shoulder.

"When will you learn, I'm not like most girls," she says before placing a kiss on his head.

.

.

Sept 30, 2014

_ Nearly Two Weeks After Pub Night _

"Hey Don, Mike and I are making a study group with Harvey, Louis, and Brad do you want to join us?" Scottie asks, stopping in front of Donna's desk after class.

"I think I'm just going to head home and do some work, but thanks anyways," Donna replies with a tight-lipped smile.

"Donna, you can't avoid him for the rest of law school."

"I'm not avoiding anyone, I just feel like studying alone," she explains, gathering her books in her arms.

"Alright, well if you change your mind, we'll be in the group study section of the library!" Scottie calls after her as she makes her way out of the classroom in a hurry.

.

.

Sept 22, 2014

_The Morning After Pub Night _

"Good morning," Scottie smirks as Donna strolls into the coffee shop they'd made plans to meet at the day prior.

"You look... _tired_," she observes, pushing a coffee cup in Donna's direction.

"Morning" Donna mumbles, instantly reaching for the steaming cup and taking a large gulp.

Scottie watches her new friend from across the table, hair tossed back in a messy ponytail, wearing a Harvard sweater and a pair of tights, looking like she'd hardly slept.

"Where did you run off to last night," Scottie coxes, dying to hear the details of her friends night after leaving the bar with Harvey.

"I had a bit too much to drink so I just took a cab home," Donna lies, sipping at her coffee and avoiding meeting her friends eyes.

"Right," Scottie plays along, "That's why you and Harvey both disappeared around the same time."

"He helped me to call the cab, he was really such a gentlemen," Donna elaborates on her own lie, knowing Scottie wasn't falling for a single word of it.

"I'm sure he is _quite_ the gentlemen," she giggles, raising a suggestive eyebrow at Donna.

"It's not like that, we're just friends," she replies, her eyes still fixated on a chip in the wooden table.

"Friends don't know how other friends taste," Scottie replies and catches Donna off guard.

"You saw us at the bar…"

"What happened Donna?"

"Nothing. Nothing happened."

"Donna, we're friends right? You can trust me," Scottie reaches across the table and pats Donna's arm reassuringly.

"There's nothing to talk about, it's…. It's never going to happen again…"

"Again?! Okay, spill," Scottie demands.

"We had a passionate night but we decided it would be best if we just pretend it never happened" Donna begins to explain, knowing Scottie won't understand her reasoning.

"Passionate?" Scottie cocks her head, waiting for Donna to confirm what she already knows.

"Yes, we slept together alright," Donna admits, her face flushed.

"Ahhhh! I knew it! How was it?" Scottie squeals, eyes growing wide.

"I think this is a more appropriate conversation to be had over a bottle of wine," she answers, "Besides, it was a one time thing."

"Why?"

"Because, it's just better if we pretend nothing happened. Say we did start dating each other, what happens when it inevitably goes south and we have to see each other every day, it's just not worth the risk. Especially not for someone I hardly know."

"Donna, are you sure? Because you two seemed to really click."

"I'm sure, it's what we both want," she offers her friend a small smile before turning her attention back to her coffee.

"You know Rachel and I still need details, right?"

"Come over on Friday after class, bring wine," Donna instructs.

.

"Well good morning, long night?" Mike teases Harvey who'd finally rolled into the kitchen around noon. He and Rachel had spent the night at her place after assuming Harvey had taken Donna home and decided to wait until later in the afternoon to return to Mike's, just in case.

"Something like that," Harvey grumbles, reaching for a clean bowl and filling it with corn flakes, his eyes still semi-shut.

"Sooooo," Rachel smirks, unable to help herself from asking.

"What?" Harvey joins them at the table with his breakfast and watches the couple exchange a knowing glance.

"Common Harvey, are you going to make us ask how your night was or are you going to just come out and tell us," Rachel says.

"It was fine…" he mutters before taking a bit of his cereal.

"If that's what you describe as fine I would hate to see what happens when your night is more than fine" Mike scoffs.

"It was more than fine, alright. She's incredible," he cries, his voice softening with his description of her.

"Ahhh! You two are so cute together" Rachel gushes, reaching over to squeeze Harvey's arm.

"We're not together. She made it pretty clear she doesn't want it to happen again."

"What?! Why?" Rachel stammers.

"Something about it making things complicated and her wanting to focus on classes," he says with a deflated sigh.

"Aw man, I'm sorry," Mike chimes in, offering Harvey a supportive smile.

"It's fine, if she just wants to be friends, we can be friends," he shrugs, not wanting to show how deflated he really was about the entire situation to his friends.

"Are you sure you two can be friends after a night like that?" Rachel asks.

"I- I hadn't even thought about that."

.

.

September 25, 2014

_First Class Post Pub Night_

She fiddles with the hem of her skirt as she balances her coffee between her books before making her way into the classroom. She almost doesn't see him but catches sight of him at the last minute and just manages to avoid drenching him with her coffee.

He pauses in front of her, opening his mouth to say something before promptly shutting it again without a word. He hadn't seen her since she left his place that morning and he'd almost forgotten how effortlessly beautiful she was. His heart weighs heavy at the memory of that morning, something he'd tried to put out of his mind but had failed to.

_We put it out of our minds, and we never bring it up again. Deal?_

_Deal._

Why did he agree to her stupid idea? He knew exactly why, it was what she wanted and despite having known her for all of five minutes, he found himself in the position to do anything that would make her happy. Even if it meant agreeing to forget about the most incredible night of his life.

"Donna," he greets, his eyes fixated on the floor as he waits for her to say something in return.

"Harvey," she acknowledges him before strutting past him and sliding into her usual seat next to Scottie at the front of the class.

Shit. She'd never considered that agreeing to put their night together out of their minds didn't mean it never happened. They were hardly friends before, what made her think they could be friends now? The real kicker was that she loved talking to Harvey, their conversations at the bar were some of the best she'd had in a long time, and she doesn't think she'd ever connected with someone so instantly, so naturally. Had she just made a huge mistake?

He watches as she takes notes during class, paying more attention to her than the actually lecture material. Was this how awkward things were going to be going forward? They weren't exactly friends before, he'd said it himself that night in the bar, they were practically strangers, and maybe they were destined to remain just that, strangers.

.

.

October 1, 2014

_Group Study_

"Hey, sorry I'm late, I couldn't find my umbrella," Donna says as she scurries into the study room and closes the door behind her, shaking off her umbrella before taking a seat next to Scottie.

She watches as Harvey's gaze shifts from his open notebook to her, roaming over her knit cream sweater before settling on her umbrella, the irony not lost on him.

"It's alright, Louis was just going over the case specifics," Scottie fills her in while she fishes her computer out of her bag and settles into her seat. The table is occupied by a few members of her class, Scottie and Harvey included, and they spend the afternoon independently working on case studies, only pausing to chat when someone has a question or they need a quick break.

She doesn't say a word to Harvey, and he doesn't dare say a word to her, instead they steal glances of one another over their screens.

He watches as she types, biting her lower lip, something he'd noticed her do in class when she was trying to focus.

.

_Sliding into the back seat of the cab, she bites her lower lip before running her tongue over it to moisten it, patiently waiting for Harvey to turn his attention back to her after giving the driver the address._

_The moment he slides back into his seat, his hand finds a place on her thigh and he's drawing her in for a kiss. He lets his hand roam to her waist where it lingers, appreciating her curves as he draws her lower lip between his teeth, an action that causes her to whimper into his mouth._

_His hands slowly work their way into her hair while hers claw at his back over his shirt, their lips still fused as the cab makes its way off campus and towards Harvey's house. He frees one hand of her auburn curls and puts it back on her thigh, daring to inch it closer to her center as she snakes her tongue past his and somehow draws him closer._

_Donna, being Donna and feeling confident as ever takes her left hand and places it on top of his, guiding him towards the hem of her dress and granting him permission with a slight nod. His hand slowly grazes the inside of her thigh but before he can reach her panties, the cab driver clears his throat, indicating they had arrived._

_After paying the driver, he climbs out of the cab and follows Donna onto his porch where he fumbles with his keys in a desperate attempt to open the door as quickly as possible so he can take her to bed._

_._

He shakes the thought out of his mind and tries to focus on the work in front of him. Every time he reads a line he gets lost again, visions of her porcelain skin intruding on his every thought. Fire on fire, that was the only way to describe that night, a night he still relieved every time he closed his eyes. Damn Donna Paulsen and her forgotten umbrella, he was pretty sure he was never going to be able to look at her as just a friend when all he could see when he closed his eyes were her eyes sealed shut as she screamed out his name.

She watches as he scribbles something down in his notebook, the crinkles beside his eyes appearing as he grins over at Louis who had asked him a question, his smile once again captivating her.

.

_"Do you need a hand?" she teases, watching him struggle to open the door._

_"I got into law school I think I can open a door," he fires back, still failing to open his front door._

_"Maybe if you stopped distracting me," he adds, peering down at where she's pressed up against his chest, her hand falling dangerously closer to the waistline of his pants._

_After finally managing to open the door she follows him inside, only to be pinned up against the same door seconds later. He kisses her with a sense of urgency that sets every nerve ending in her body alive, reaching for her ass so he can elevate her, an action she helps with by wrapping her legs around his waist and using her thighs to pull him closer. She feels the bulge in his pants against her core as her dress rides up around her waist, panting as he places a trail of sloppy kisses from her neck to her collar bone._

_"Harvey," she breathes and it's both a plea and a warning rolled into one._

_He takes the hint and puts her down, his lips never leaving hers as they fumble down the hallway towards his bedroom, a trail of clothing in their wake._

_._

"Donna, did you hear me?" Scottie waves a hand in front of her face and snaps her out of her daydream.

"Sorry, what?" she blushes, embarrassed to have been caught thinking about that night when Harvey was sitting right across from her.

"I said Louis and I are going to go grab something to eat, do you want to come?"

"I'm alright, I think I'm going to stay and do a bit more work," she says, looking around the room and realizing only she and Harvey remain.

"Suit yourself, have_ fun_," Scottie waves, adding a slight wink with the word fun.

She continued to work for a few moments in silence, occasionally glancing over at him to see if he was doing the same. She was the one who wanted this. She was the one that decided it would be best if they end things before they even started. They could totally forget that night ever happened and move past it, they didn't need to be best friends, but they could be the kind of friends that worked together, couldn't they? Two people who used to be lovers could at least work together, it had to be possible, right?

.

_What if this didn't work out? What if this was just a fling and things got awkward and messy between them? What if it all fell apart and ruined everything she'd worked for her entire life? She just couldn't let that happen. So, despite their amazing evening, followed by an equally as incredible morning, she turned to face him with tear filled eyes before she left._

_"Donna, what is it? Did I do something wrong?"_

_"No Harvey, it's just… I can't… I can't do this. I'm sorry."_

_._

He considers saying something to her to break the silence but before he gets the chance Rachel appears in the doorway.

"Ready?" she smiles at Donna before looking over at Harvey and offering him a small smile.

"Is it time already?" Donna glances at her phone.

"It is, let's go officially move me in!" she squeals as Donna packs up her stuff.

"You guys are going to be roommates?" Harvey asks and it's the first time his speech is directed at Donna all night.

"We are! I'm moving into Donna's tomorrow but we're kicking off becoming roommates with an official girls night!" Rachel explains excitedly.

"Well, you better get going. Have fun," he smiles, his eyes locked on Donna's as he speaks.

"Thanks," she replies before tossing her bag over her shoulder and following Rachel out of the study room.

Glancing over her shoulder she catches him staring at her and they both turn away, caught.

How they managed to go from strangers to lovers to strangers so quickly, he'll never know. What he did know was that Donna Paulsen had stolen a piece of his heart, and he was keen on getting it back one day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch 3: "Last Call for Rick Sorkin and Donna Paulsen"**

.

October 3rd

Flopping down on her couch next to Rachel in her pink sweats, she hands Scottie the bottle of wine they'd been indulging in and tucks her legs beneath her. The girls were celebrating Rachel's first official day of living with Donna and unlike their girls night a few days prior, which consisted of watching Sabrina and drooling over Harrison Ford, this girls night was fuelled by wine and for Donna, by heartache.

She'd managed to avoid answering the girls' proding questions about what happened between her and Harvey for nearly a week, but now that she'd had time to process it, she'd decided to fill her new friends in, no matter how awkward recalling the events of that night made her feel.

She knew that Rachel had an idea of what had happened, between Mike living with Harvey and what Scottie had told her, but she wanted to tell them the full story.

Scottie and Rachel had talked about what they were calling "The Harvey and Donna situation", and while they understood why Donna decided to break things off before they began, they could see how hurt both she and Harvey were by the decision and they couldn't understand why they were too stubborn to just be together.

Leaning back against the couch, Rachel grabs the wine bottle and takes a large swig before leaning back on her elbows and sending Donna a pitying smile.

"What?" Donna asks when she catches the matching guilty expressions on her friends faces. She and Rachel had been roommates for all of 48 hours but they'd already formed a fast bond and being Donna, she could read Rachel like an open book.

"You said the story was best told over wine," Scottie holds up the nearly empty bottle and shakes it, 'Well."

"There isn't much to tell," she shrugs, not knowing where to begin without being asked a direct question.

"What about starting with what went wrong? You two seemed to really hit it off and now you barely look at each other" Rachel says, handing the bottle to Donna.

"Whatever happened, he seemed upset" she adds softly.

"He did?" Donna looks over at her friend, a mixture of hope and pain swimming in her hazel eyes.

"He did, so what happened Don, let us in," she says with a reassuring squeeze of Donna's leg.

"It wasn't, bad? Was it?" Scottie chimes in, scooting closer to the other two girls on the couch.

"God, not at all it was… it was unreal. Like have you ever had sex and then realized _'wow, i never realized it could be like this'_?"

"Yes," Rachel says at the same time that Scottie says no.

"Mike…" Rachel explains with a heavy blush.

"It was like that," Donna continues to explain, "We just connected."

"Then why...?"

"Break things off?" Donna interrupts, "Honestly, I got scared. I just met the man and all of the sudden I was feeling things I didn't even know I could feel and I panicked. I just couldn't stop thinking,_ 'What if this doesn't work out?'_ and the next three years we have to face each other every day and be reminded of what could have been, and I didn't want that."

"Aren't you going to be reminded of that anyways?" Scottie replies, "I mean from the sounds of it you two shared an amazing night and now you're avoiding each other anyways, what's the difference?"

"I'm not sure…" Donna admits, "I guess I didn't think it through completely and now…"

"You guys will get past it, I know you will," Rachel jumps in.

"What if we don't?" Donna's voice quivers as the words leave her lips.

"Then you weren't meant to be friends. Let fate run its course Donna," Rachel smiles at her.

"So, if its never going to happen again, we need all the details," Scottie wags her eyebrows in Donna's direction, trying to turn the conversation in a more light-hearted direction.

"If I'm going to give you details, we need more wine," Donna excuses herself to the kitchen to fetch another bottle.

"Let fate run its course?" Scottie turns towards Rachel once Donna is out of ear shot.

"_What_?" Rachel asks, feigning annoyance.

"They're clearly still into each other. She can hardly look at him because she regrets her decision to end things and he is head over heels for her and you really think they can forget that night ever happened and just be friends?"

"I said let fate run its course, those two are obviously soul mates...Have a little faith."

Upon returning from the kitchen, Donna refills each of their wine glasses before launching into a story about her night with Harvey. She began by telling them about how effortless their conversation had been, and how easy he was to talk to; one of the reasons she wanted to preserve their budding friendship.

"Yes Harvey is great to talk to, But is he great in bed?" Rachel asks bluntly, causing Scottie to giggle and Donna to smack her arm with a playful warning.

"Yes, lets just say he's gifted in many ways," Donna teases, a smirk making its way across her face as she recalled the way they stumbled down his hallway, desperate to remove every layer of clothing separating them.

"Go on," both ladies coo in unison.

"He's an incredible kisser," Donna gushes, feeling more and more comfortable with opening up as the wine begins to make her head feel light.

"Tell is about the first kiss, start with the first kiss!"

"I actually kissed him first," Donna blushes, staring at her friends who are eagerly waiting for her to elaborate.

"He's good with tongue," she practically giggles, knowing her friends want to hear more about how she decided to kiss Harvey, but her mind still trapped in his bedroom, their limbs a tangled mess between the sheets.

"You're not talking about kissing, are you?" Scottie picks up on the vibrational tone in Donna's voice as she speaks, her voice practically humming with the memory.

"Oh my god! She's totally not!"

"How many times did you, you know?!"

Smirking to herself Donna holds up three fingers which causes her friends to shriek and chuckle before collapsing into each other on the couch while anxiously hanging on Donna's every word.

She'd replayed the night so many times in her head that it was easy to answer her friends questions, each question demanding a more detailed answer than the last. She answered freely, figuring since it was a one time thing, expelling the details of her wild night wouldn't do any harm. Besides, she was glad to have made friends she was comfortable sharing with, it was nice to not have to go through things alone.

Despite the excess questioning, there were a few details of the night Donna kept to herself. Their moment on the roof remained something that only existed in her mind, as did the words he mumbled before falling asleep next to her.

As the night wore on, her confidence in the fact that she and Harvey could be friends grew and she was certain it could be done. And despite the voice in the back of her mind telling her that it was okay to want more, she knew this was what she needed to do.

.

.

May 6, 2014 

_Spring Orientation Day_

_Her mom was running late, as per usual, and Donna couldn't help but shift her weight between her feet as she anxiously waited near the edge of the parking lot for her mom to join her. First, it was that her hair wasn't curling just right, then, she couldn't find her keys, and after what felt like an eternity, the Paulsen women finally hit the road and were on route to Donna's campus orientation._

_It's not that she wasn't grateful her mom had offered to tag along, it was just that her mom didn't share the same need to be on time as Donna did, nor did she possess the same organizational skills which sometimes tested Donna's patience to it's limits._

_Her orientation tour was set to start at 1:30, and seeing as it was 1:45 and her mom had only just parked the car, she was positive she'd missed it. Talk about a great first impression, it wasn't even day one and she was already behind._

_"Mooooom, lets go," Donna cries as her mother finally joins her and she begins a quick paced walk towards the campus administrator building._

_"Donna slow down! You know I can't keep up!"_

_"We're late! I'm going to miss my tour and how did you think that's going to look?! Who knows, maybe they'll even revoke my offer," she panics, still several steps ahead of her mom despite wearing a pair of nude pumps that should have slowed her down._

_"Honey, they aren't going to revoke your offer, if anything they'll just make us join a new group. Relax. You were destined to be here, to be a lawyer," her mom smiles and Donna halts, waiting for her to catch up._

_"Really?"_

_"Really. You're going to be an incredible lawyer darling. You're the hardest working person that I know. And nothing, not a missed orientation tour, a hail storm, or even a twister could distract you from reaching your goal. You're a Paulsen. And Paulsens reach the goals they set out to achieve."_

_"Now," her mom continues as they make their way into the building, "which tour group were we supposed to be in so we can explain to this kind gentlemen that we need to be moved into a new one?" Her mom flashes the young man behind the counter a smile before turning to Donna to tell him their group._

_"31, we were supposed to be in group 31," she copied her mother's mannerisms and flashes the man her best flirty smile while leaning up against the counter._

_"Do you think you could have us moved into a later group? My daughter here is going to be a lawyer," her mom explains which makes Donna blush as the young man begins to type something on his computer._

_"You ladies can join group 35, they're leaving in ten minutes," he says, handing them each a map._

_"See honey, I told you it would all work itself out," her mom says before thanking the man at the counter and leading Donna out towards the courtyard._

.

.

_"Group 31, we'll be leaving in five minutes," a young man in a Harvard golf shirt calls over a group of eager young students gathered in the courtyard._

_"Would you pay attention," Harvey nudges Marcus who is too busy making plans with his former Harvard friends via text to be lining up with his younger brother's tour group._

_"Why do I need to pay attention? You're the one being oriented," Marcus shrugs, returning his attention back to his cell phone._

_"Oriented? Is that even a word?" Harvey remarks, leading his brother in the direction of the student line up on the other side of the courtyard._

_"How would I know?"_

_"Didn't you go to Harvard," Harvey teases, finally gaining his brothers attention._

_"There's a reason I left, besides you've always been the smart one, Mr. Law School."_

_"You should make friends with them," Marcus nods towards a group of three young blondes gathered at the front of the line, a mischievous grin spreading across his lips._

_"I'm here to study Marcus, not to find random blondes," He rolls his eyes at his brother but not before taking a quick peek at the girls in question._

_"I never said she had to be blonde," Marcus continues to tease. As grateful as Harvey was that his brother had agreed to accompany him for his orientation tour, he couldn't help but be bothered by Marcus' need to check out every girl with a pulse. He himself was not exactly a prude, he'd had his fair share of women, but this was different. He was here to study the law. Besides, he'd recently gotten out of a long term relationship and his heart hadn't quite healed, there was no way he was looking for anything, let alone anything serious at the moment._

_"You're ridiculous," he scoffs at his older brother while stuffing his hands into his pockets._

_"You're ridiculous if you think you won't meet one girl here who isn't going to turn your world upside down," Marcus replies._

_"It's law school Marcus. Everyone is going to be focused on studying."_

_"Or too boring to keep you interested…"_

_"Exactly," Harvey agrees, acknowledging that when it came to women, he was the type to be bored easily and usually after the second date he was ready to move on; something Marcus often teased him about. What Marcus called a commitment issue, Harvey viewed as a lack of interest. Aside from his former girlfriend, he'd never met anyone who'd captured his attention for longer than a month, something that annoyed him to no end, and made him keen on one night stands._

_"Alright guys has everybody signed in?" the guide calls over the group while holding up a clipboard._

_"I'm looking for Rick Sorkin and Donna Paulsen? Last call!" the man scans the crowd one last time before tucking the clipboard under his arm and instructing the group to follow him._

_"Missing out on day one rookie mistake," Marcus chuckles to himself as he and Harvey follow the crowd out of the courtyard._

.

.

October 6th 

_Ethics Class_

"Specter," Professor Gerrard calls, snapping Harvey out of his daydream and drawing his attention back to the front of the classroom, "You're paired with Paulsen."

"Sorry, what was that sir?" he asks, the sound of his name being called snapping him out of his daydream. It was a Monday morning, and between his sleep deprived trance and his glare fixed on the back of Donna's head, he wasn't paying attention to what was happening in class. He and Mike spent the weekend visiting his mother since Rachel was busy moving in with Donna and Mike had nothing better to do in the absence of his girlfriend. Not that Harvey didn't like when Rachel hung out with them, it was just that Mike's need to always be with her drove him mad and it was nice to have a weekend with just the two of them. It was a busy few days and he'd nearly managed to forget about Donna and their awkward conversation during group study until Mike dared bring her up on the ride into town.

He brushed off the conversation, but the mere mention of her name was enough to send his mind racing and he was suddenly back in the labyrinth that was Donna Paulsen. He'd accepted that he had feelings for her and she just wanted to be friends and as bitter as the reality of the situation was, he decided he would rather be her friend then not have her in his life.

It was odd, his need to keep her in his life. He'd known this woman all of twenty minutes and yet he found himself wanting to know her better, wanting to spend time with her; something he knew was hard to come by.

"I said you and Ms. Paulsen are paired together for the mock trial assignment," he repeats himself before turning to the chalkboard and underlining the date written across it.

"Each group will have four weeks to complete their study and the trials will take place in class. I've assigned each of you a task that will be outlined in the folders I'll be passing out. Each student group must stick to their specific roles and remember, this is worth a significant amount of your grade, so take it seriously. Any questions?" he asks as he turns back towards the class and is met with a collection of blank stares.

"I suggest you set up a meeting with your partner sometime this week, you'll need a lot of time for this and it's best to start early," he instructs before dismissing the class.

Packing her books into her bag, a shadow appears and looms over her desk and she knows he's standing in front of her without even looking up.

"Harvey," she greets him, still focused on putting her books away.

"Hey," he replies in a soft tone.

She looks up to find him standing sheepishly before her, his hands stuffed nervously into his pockets as he eyes her curiously.

"Did you want to pick a meeting time?" he mumbles, turning his attention towards the ground.

"What about Thursday? 5pm?" she suggests.

"Sounds good. Did you want to come over, or?" both of them blushing at his mention of his place.

"The library is fine," she replies, not wanting to put herself in a situation that involved Harvey Specter's bedroom.

"Right. 5 o'clock Thursday," he says, flashing her a tiny smile.

"5 o'clock Thursday," she repeats and with that he joins Mike at the door and prepares to head home.

Following Mike down the corridor he half listens to the rant he's giving about his partner Jessica and how he wished he'd been paired with anyone else. Jessica was a girl in their year that usually sat with Donna and Scottie but hardly interacted with their classmates because she was too focused on her studies. Mike was mid complaint about how she was going to work him into the ground when Harvey found himself wondering how he'd been so lucky to get Donna as a partner.

His initial reaction was that of panic, wondering how they'd work through an entire case study when they could barely exchange two sentences without it being awkward, but the more he thought about it, the more he viewed it as an ample opportunity. This was his chance to get to know her, and really get to know her. Professor Gerrard had practically just handed him the pass he needed to help him get over his feelings for her and to try and build a friendship with her. This was a good thing, their partnership. It was going to be a good thing.

"So did you bribe Gerrard to pair you with her or?" Mike's voice interrupts his thoughts.

"Why would I do that?"

"Common Harvey, you'd have to be blind to see you're not still crazy into that Donna chick."

"I had nothing to do with this, it's not like I even know Gerrard that well…"

"Funny how it worked out, huh" Mike chuckles to himself as they continued to their next class.

.

When Professor Gerrard had first called her name she held her breath until the next sound that left his mouth was a prominent "S" and she knew exactly who her partner would be. Something like this was exactly what she'd been worried about. The last thing she needed was to have her grades suffer because of something not related to her studies. And yet, part of her was excited when she heard his name. Maybe this was their chance to put all of this behind them and start again, as friends.

Watching as he walked out of the classroom with Mike, she hears Scottie come up beside her, following her gaze to the two men walking away.

"That's going to be fun," Scottie smirks, trying to gage how Donna felt about her new partner.

"Actually, I think it's a good thing," Donna concludes, tossing her bag over her shoulder and following Scottie towards their next class.

.

.

October 10

_Library Study Room_

She'd changed her outfit three times before settling on a green sweater and a pair of dark leggings, telling herself she was only trying on a variety of outfits because she wanted to dress the part of a successful soon-to-be-lawyer. Filling her book bag and tucking her lucky pen into the front pocket, she tosses her hair back in a low curly ponytail and gives herself a once over in the full length mirror at the end of the hall.

She'd been at Harvard for a month and was still managing to ace her classes while maintaining her status as a fashionista. She'd made great friends in Rachel and Scottie and she was proud of how she'd handled her first month. Harvey drama aside, she'd really found herself at Harvard. For the first time in what felt like years she had a group of friends she adored and she looked forward to going to class; classes in which the material came naturally to her.

Tucking an umbrella under her arm she smirks to herself before heading out the door. She was the type to live and learn, and there was no way she'd ever be caught without an umbrella again; no matter how the outcome of the first and only time she'd gone without one had changed her life.

Changed it for the better or worse, she couldn't decide, but lately she'd been trying to welcome change and meeting Harvey Specter definitely changed her life. She'd spent countless nights trying to figure out how she felt about her night with Harvey and her decision to end things before they began. Every time she arrived at the same conclusion, relationship or not, she was attracted to him, undoubtedly.

He was devilishly attractive, there was no question about it but there was something else that drew her to him, something magnetic. She hated that she fell asleep thinking about Harvey Specter's smile and woke from dreams in which his smile was buried between her legs. There were days when she questioned her decision to turn him down to request they just be friends but then she remembered how easily their conversation flowed that night at the bar and she knew, this is what needed to be done. She just needed to stick to her gut and use her willpower. As much as she hated what she had to do, she knew it was what it was best for her.

Shaking the thoughts of him from her head, she begins to make her way to the library where she's supposed to meet him. As she weaves her way through the cobblestone streets lining the campus, she tries to imagine what they'll talk about. The last two times they saw each other their conversation was awkward and forced and she knew this was their chance to set the tone for their friendship and turn everything around.

.

.

They'd been sitting across from each other in awkward silence since they arrived, each of them flipping through the folder for the project they'd been assigned. The were tasked with being lawyers defending the victim of a wrongful termination lawsuit and had to prepare their trial strategy before their next class in a week's time. They were seated at a long oak table in a far corner of the library which was packed with students studying silently and groups excitedly chatting about assignments.

Harvey had always loved this floor of the library, a combination of busy and productive and silent and serious and being here with Donna, watching as she bites down on the corner of her lip while focusing, only made him love the place more. She was already seated when he arrived and he'd opted to join her with a quiet "Hey" before diving straight into the case. His eyes roamed from the old books lining the shelves to the girl scribbling something down on her paper with a pink glittery pen, a fact that forces a smile to slowly emerge on his face.

Stealing casual glances of him over her notebook, she can't help but notice he looks relaxed, much less anxious than she feels. She'd been nervous about meeting him all week, wondering what they'd talk about; would they just discuss the case? Or would he want to get to know her like that night in the bar? The third time she glances over at him, she catches him staring and they both quickly look away, caught.

"Should we just rip the bandaid off and get it over with?" he asks, breaking to silence that hung between them.

"You want to talk about it?" she replies surprised he'd been so forward.

"And you don't?"

"What is there to talk about, it shouldn't have happened," she sighs, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Why shouldn't it have happened? That's what we need to talk about."

"Harvey…"

"Donna," he volleys, not interested in playing games.

"Look, I really like talking to you. And I had a momentary lapse in judgement that night and I broke the one rule I made for myself when I started here. I can't get involved with you because what if it doesn't work out and then everything goes to shit? I've worked way too hard to get here to throw it all away for…"

"For what?"

"For someone I hardly even know," she explains, finally daring to look up at him from her seat across the table.

"You could get to know me, you know," he smirks, cocking his head to one side and flashing her a grin that makes her heart flutter.

"And that's exactly the point. I want to get to know you, as friends," she adds, her chest tightening when she watches his face fall.

"As friends," he repeats, mostly to himself.

"Unless, unless you don't want to be friends?" She suddenly stutters, panic flooding her eyes.

"Honestly Donna, I'm not sure what I want. I'm not sure I can be just your friend," he admits.

"Can I ask why?"

"You know why," he clucks with a slight eye roll, his expression sobering and honest.

"It was one night," she reasons.

"I can try, I can try to see you as just a friend but I can't promise you that I won't always want more…"

"But we can try?"

"We can try," he nods cautiously, knowing he's playing a dangerous game by agreeing to be friends with her when his nights had been filled with visions of red and porcelain, a sea of freckles beneath his wanting lips.

"On one condition," he adds, "you can't tell me that night wasn't something special."

"It was, that's what scares me the most," she admits, both to him and herself.

"You're sure you're okay with this?" she adds, not sure how her recent statement may have affected him.

"We have to work together on this for the next month anyways, we're going to be spending a lot of time together. Friends?" He offers her a small smile.

"Friends."

They continue to work in silence for a few moments after the conversation dies, but Donna is surprised to find the silence comforting rather than awkward and charged.

She steals another quick glance of Harvey, frantically scribbling something down in his notebook after his eyes fall from where they met hers, her stolen glance caught. Blushing, she returns to her own work, only to have him call her attention back to him by clearing his throat.

Looking across the table she reads the sign he's holding up, a sign that reads "do friends stare at each other like that?"

"You're an idiot," she chuckles, rolling her eyes at him.

"And you're staring," he points out with a smug smirk.

"I was just wondering what you thought our strategy should be" she lies.

"Sureee," he humors her, "well I was thinking we go about this a different way, step outside the box a bit."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I say we play offense," he explains, folding his hands over the table.

"We have the role of the victim Harvey…"

"Exactly" he cocks his brow before beginning to explain his suggested strategy.

A few hours later, after finally agreeing on an approach for their assignment they found themselves packing up for the evening. Once they began talking strategy, they couldn't stop and what Donna expected to be a two hour work session quickly took over her entire evening.

It was endearing to see Harvey so excited about their assignment, talking animatedly about how they should tackle the project, his face lighting up as he filled her in on what he thought the best approach would be. She knows she hasn't known him for years, but something about his boyish excitement being on full display makes her think he trusts her, and she's both honoured and flattered he appears to feel comfortable around her.

"It's pretty late, do you want me to walk you home?" He pauses before her at the exit to ask.

"I'll survive," she replies with a timid smile, "but thank you."

"See you Sunday?"

"Don't forget to bring that handbook," she says before waving goodbye and beginning her walk home. The crisp fall air makes her pull her overcoat closer as she makes her way across campus, the fallen yellow leaves crunching beneath her booties. Drawing in a deep breath she realized she'd been worried about this meeting for nothing. Harvey was very mature about the situation, and despite being caught off guard by his outward emission of not seeing her as just a friend, she was confident that tonight was the start of a long lasting friendship.

They didn't discuss anything aside from the case, but she'd quickly learned that Harvey Specter was quick-witted and smart and she had a feeling that with their combined knowledge they were about to blow this assignment out of the water.

She'd met her match in the man. He was equal parts charming, charismatic and brilliant and she couldn't wait to see what else he had in store for her to discover.

She tosses her keys on the hall table and drops her book bag by the couch before heading to the kitchen to grab herself a glass of water. The house is mostly dark when she gets home and she finds Rachel and Mike cuddled up next to each other on the couch watching a movie.

"Hey, how was your meeting?" Rachel asks when she spots Donna lingering in the door of the living room.

"Actually, it went really well," she responds, watching as Rachel relaxes back into Mike. She'd practically been as nervous as Donna had for this meeting with Harvey, a nervousness Donna could only assume stemmed from not wanting group hangouts to be so awkward in the future, seeing as Mike and Harvey were roommates.

"That's great Donna, I knew you two would get past it!"

"Anyways, I don't want to intrude so I'm going to head to bed, goodnight," Donna calls as she waves to the couple and excuses herself to her room.

"You really thought they'd get past what happened? Harvey hasn't been the same since. He just mopes around and when I try and bring her up he changes the subject" Mike says to Rachel, concern painting his face.

"She's been the same way, they're into each other," she explains.

"Then why-?"

"Not be together?" She cuts him off, "I have no idea."

"You really think two people who are that crazy about each other after only a night can be friends?"

"Absolutely not. But I'm hoping one day they'll open their eyes and see it."

"See what exactly?"

"That they were meant to be together."

.

.

October 12

_Library Study Room_

She's already seated at the same table when he strolls in with two coffees in hand, dressed in a crisp white button down and gray pair of dress pants.

She has her hair pinned back in a low ponytail, her neck and shoulders exposed in an off the shoulder sweater accompanied by a pair of dark jeans and boots. She always seemed so put together and it didn't go unnoticed by him.

Her confidence was one of the things that drew him to her in the first place. She was seemingly unafraid to be herself and the confidence she radiated made her glow. It was rare, to meet a woman who combined confidence, style and brains the way Donna did, and Harvey was enchanted.

"Good morning," he sing-songed as he plopped a coffee cup in front of her before sliding into the vacant seat beside her.

"You didn't have to get me a coffee," she says while inspecting the cup suspiciously.

"What?! Can't one friend get another friend coffee? Especially when said friend drinks her coffee the same way and all I had to do was say _"Make that two please."_

"Thank you," she smiles in order to silence his rant before bringing the cup to her lips as if to prove she would drink the steaming beverage.

"Did you get a chance to go over those old cases we found?" She adds.

"Not as many as I would have liked too. My brother surprised me and dropped in yesterday so my day was cut short."

"The chef?"

"Yeah, Marcus. He was in town for some type of buyers meeting so we grabbed lunch."

"Must be nice to have a brother you're so close to," she replies, taking another generous sip of her coffee.

"It is. As kids we were really close but as adults we've only grown closer. It helped a lot, when my dad died, to have someone to talk to," he says softly, pausing before he mentions his father.

"Harvey I'm so sorry I didn't know…"

"It's okay, it was a long time ago. My dad was always the one who encouraged me to pursue becoming a lawyer, and after he left us it was Marcus who reminded me that I could do this, I could make it in this world."

"I bet he would be really proud of you," she says, placing her palm over his forearm gently, an action that causes every nerve ending in his body to come alive.

"Thanks," he nods slightly, processing. "What about you, do you have any siblings?"

"One. She's a lot older and we aren't very close."

"Oh. That can't be easy."

"Honestly, I'm used to it. We see each other during the holidays and are civilized and friendly but we're never going to be best friends. She's not someone I would call at midnight for help if I needed someone," Donna shrugs as she explains her estranged relationship with her sister.

"You could always call me, at midnight, you know, if you needed someone," he blushes, her hand lingering on his arm at the forefront of his mind.

"I'll keep that in mind next time I murder someone in the middle of the night and need help burying the body," she teases, grateful for the opportunity to make their conversation more light hearted.

"I'd make a great accomplice," he winks and she giggles at the thought of his showing up at her apartment in ski mask carrying a shovel.

"So, we should really strategize," she changes the subject back to a working one.

"Our murder strategy?"

"NOO," she laughs, her smile turning upwards towards her ears in a way that makes him see stars.

"Our case strategy," she clarifies through her laugh.

"Ah well, to-may-to, to-mah-to," he chuckles, his laughter filling their little corner of the library.

"Less vegetable talk, more focus" she instructs, flipping open her notebook and grabbing a pen from her bag, her hands finally leaving the place they'd taken up residency on his arm.

"A tomato is a fruit," he points out, mirroring her actions and reaching for his own notebook.

"Technically. But when I think fruit I think of like, a strawberry, not tomato, so it's a vegetable to me."

"You can't just change what it is because you want to," he argues, her smile fuelling his disagreement and encouraging him to keep the banter going.

"Why not?" she asks.

"Because that's not how life works!"

"Isn't it?" She smirks with a subtle raise of her right eyebrow.

"You can't just go around changing fruits to vegetables without permission!"

"How will anyone know what I'm thinking?" She challenges.

"I'll know, and now I'll never look at a tomato the same! Congratulations, you've ruined fruit for me."

"Or have I improved fruit for you?"

"You're impossible."

"You enjoy it."

"I do," he blushes and a silence falls between them, the giggling subsided.

"Shall we?" He gestures to the work on the table in front of them and the pair gets to work only stopping when Donna teases Harvey about his mis-pronunciation of a large word.

They afternoon flies by and by the time she has to get going for her dinner plans with Rachel and Scottie they've nearly completed outlining their trial strategy. Their conversation mostly focused on work related topics but occasionally one of them would make a joke they led them down a rabbit hole of laughter.

Talking to him was easy. Whether it be about school or the time he accidentally knocked over the classroom whiteboard in third grade, she felt safe talking to him, and she felt heard.

When Scottie shows up to meet Donna before dinner, she finds Donna and Harvey engaged in a heated debate about which production was superior on Broadway.

Watching from across the table she clears her throat to gain their attention, a blushing Donna turning to face her.

"You ready?" Scottie asks, unable to suppress the smirk she's wearing.

"I'll meet you guys outside, let me just grab my things," Donna responds, closing her notebook.

"Okay," Scottie coos, turning on her heel and making her way to the door, stopping to steal a quick glance of her friend over her shoulder.

"I can't believe you think Clueless was a better musical than Legally Blonde," Donna scoffs while she packs her book bag up.

"No wait, scratch that, I can't believe you know Broadway at all!"

"My mom was a Broadway junkie, I didn't have a choice!"

"Clueless didn't begin on Broadway until five years ago," she points out and he blushes, caught.

"I never said I didn't enjoy a good musical number."

"You are just full of surprises, aren't you?" She smiles as she tosses her bag over her shoulder and moves towards the door.

"Goodnight Harvey," she calls with a small wave.

"Goodnight Donna," he responds into the empty room.

He'd never admitted to anyone that he enjoyed musicals. Not even Mike or Marcus and yet, here he was debating the highs and lows of Cher's opening musical number with a girl he was trying to impress.

He had to admit, she wasn't wrong in deciding they should be friends. They got along extremely well and as hard as it was to see her as just a friend, having her in his life as a friend was better than not having her in his life at all.

.

.

The three girls find themselves seated in a booth beneath a large store front window at an Italian restaurant located in the heart of the city, noses buried in the menus.

After placing their orders, Donna relaxes into the leather covered booth while listening to Scottie's rant about her meeting with her assignment partner, Samantha. While Samantha was definitely smart she was a strong willed and stubborn as Scottie and the two girls were having a hard time coming up with an approach they agreed on.

She hears Rachel ask a question but frowns out Scottie's response, her mind drifting. Today had gone much better than she expected and for the first time in weeks she had faith that she'd made the right decision with Harvey, that things were going to be okay.

"Donna, are you listening?" The sound of Scottie's voice calls her attention back to the two brunettes sitting across from her.

"Sorry, what?" She apologizes with a shy smile.

"How is working with Harvey going?" Scottie asks again.

"Actually, really well. The more time we spend together the more confident I am that I made the right decision."

"Oh," Scottie says.

"What? Is that so surprising?" Donna asks.

"It's not surprising that you guys are getting along so well, it's surprising that you don't see it."

"Scottie," Rachel scolds while Donna looks between them, confused.

"What? I don't understand why she can't see it?"

"See what?!"

"Donna, you two are still crazy about each other," Scottie begins to explain.

"I'm not crazy about a man I hardly know," She protests, caught off guard that her friends had clearly discussed her non-existent relationship in her absence.

"You don't think of Harvey as more than a friend?"

"No. I really don't. Can we please drop this? I can't keep having the same conversation over and over. Harvey and I are just friends. We're hardly friends and we are definitely nothing more" she huffs.

"Fine. Consider it dropped. We promise we won't bring it up again," Scottie says, looking to Rachel for her to agree.

"Thank you," Donna says just as the waiter returns to their table with drinks.

.

.

October 13

_Library Study Room_

The next day he beats her to the library despite having stopped for coffee again so he places her cup on her side of the vacant table.

He's focused on his cell phone when he hears her pull out the seat across from him, the sound of a cup being placed in front of him, startling him.

"I guess great minds think alike" she smirks towards where she's placed her own coffee next to the one he bought for her.

"Donna Paulsen are you telling me I have a great mind because flattery will get you everywhere," he winks before switching out his own coffee with the one she bought for him.

She raises an eyebrow in question of his action and he offers an explanation before she has the chance to ask.

"It would be rude not to accept the coffee you went out of your way to get me."

"First, I didn't go out of my way, as you so kindly pointed out yesterday, we have the same coffee order and I was already at the shop buying one for myself. Second, there is literally no difference between the one you got yourself and that one," she gestures towards the cup in his hand.

"There's a huge difference," he argues, "A pretty girl got this one for me."

"Are you flirting with me?" she teases as she opens her bag and pulls out her books.

"Ms Paulsen, if I was flirting with you, you'd know," he states definiatavely, a self satisfied smirk appearing as her cheeks redden, the intention of his statement.

"How's the new roommate?" He asks, pulling a few books from his bag and placing them on the table between them.

"She's great, and having Mike around is… _great_."

"He's a handful."

"But they're in love," Donna muses and the glimmer in her eye does not go unnoticed by the man seated across from her.

"They're in puppy love" he corrects, "There's a difference."

"I didn't know you were an expert on all things love," she mocks, "And I happen to think what they have is sweet."

"I thought you didn't want something like… _that_."

"Just because it's not for me, doesn't mean I'm not happy for them. Finding someone that you connect with on that level is rare, it deserves to be celebrated."

He falls silent upon hearing her words, not wanting to over step or put his foot in his mouth because in his mind she's describing them. He knows he promised he would try and see her as a friend, and that for his own sake he shouldn't hold out hope, but hearing her say things like that, it broke his heart a little. He knows he needs to move on, he just needs to find a way to do so.

She lets the silence go and gets to work, slipping into a familiar routine of reading and summarizing that they'd developed over the past few days. The day once again flies by as they work on the case and she doesn't notice the time until he tells her he should get going if he wanted to make his dinner plans with Mike.

She waves goodbye and watches as he leaves the library, resigning to her chair to do some independent study for the next few hours.

Despite having an afternoon where the conversation was mostly aided towards their assignment, once again she'd had a great time that afternoon and she was actually looking forward to their next meeting.

.

.

October 15 

_Harvard Library_

On Tuesday night after their late lecture they walk to what Donna had deemed their study spot on the third floor of the library. The floor was mostly deserted for the evening, a few students scattered about independently studying but they practically had the entire floor to themselves to finalize the strategy they planned on presenting in class the next day.

It was weird not having a meeting the previous day, and Harvey found himself missing the redhead's company while he worked on his own. Not that he would ever admit or tell her that, but not seeing her all day left him unsettled and yearning.

Seeing as it was already quarter past eight by the time they began working, when ten rolls around and she suggests they order a pizza he's quick to agree.

After arguing about what to put on the pizza, because she was a pineapple on pizza advocate and he couldn't stand the thought of pineapple on pizza, they finally agreed on toppings; mushrooms, feta, and at Donna's request, yellow tomatoes.

They decide to take a break while they wait for the delivery guy and Donna finds herself restlessly pacing before settling on the floor in front of one of the bookshelves.

Sinking down with her back to the large bound books she crosses her heel clad feet at the ankle and closes her eyes for a brief moment.

"Tired?" He asks, noticing she'd taken up residency on the floor beside him.

"I just need it all to stop for a minute." She sighs, flicking her eyes back open.

"I know what you mean, it's a lot. It's overwhelming," he says, taking a seat opposite her on the floor, his back pressed against the adjacent bookshelf.

"We can do this right?" She asks and it's the first time he's ever seen a vulnerable side to Donna Paulsen.

"I know you can," he smiles, gently leaning his foot to the side to tap against her bare leg, a small sign of reassurance.

She expels a long deep breath while fiddling with her thumbs before looking up and locking eyes with his, something in his smile telling her that everything would be alright. They stay like that for a moment, locked in their moment, world temporarily forgotten until a young delivery man clears his throat and breaks them out of their trance.

"I have a pizza for Harvey Specter?" He calls, looking between the pair confused and embarrassed to have interrupted whatever was going on.

"Thanks," Harvey says, standing and fishing a few bills out of his pocket.

He passes the kid some cash in exchange for the pizza and nods, thanking him for the delivery.

Holding up the box he looks towards Donna gestures towards the ground.

"What do you say we have a library picnic?"

"I say you better bring that pizza over here - I'm_ starving_."

Handing her the box, he slides into the floor once again, this time next to her and they dig in to the pizza. He has to admit, he thought the request for yellow tomatoes was odd, but it added a nice burst of flavour.

He's sitting close enough to gage her breathing pattern and as they eat and tell stories there are several instances he had to resist the urge to reach out and touch her, especially when she laughed. Harvey has learned very quickly that Donna's laugh was magnetic. It made his entire soul feel alive and if he could spend the rest of his life trying to make her laugh, he would.

Their fingers accidentally merge as they both reach for a slice of pizza and they both quickly pull away, blushing and mumbling apologies. It's Donna who eventually gives in and goes for a new slice and as the laughter dies down and the story telling begins to dwindle, she puts her head on his shoulder and they sit in silence on the library floor.

She's not sure how long they sit like that, or what possessed her to lean on him, but she feels comfortable and safe and for a moment they just sit there, enjoying the company of one another.

He ends up convincing her to let him walk her home since it had gotten pretty late by the time they wrapped up for the night, and standing on her porch with his hands stuffed nervously in his pockets while she searched for her keys, he tried to think of something to say.

"You don't have to wait Harvey," she protests as she finally finds her key and brings it to the door.

"What kind of gentlemen would I be if I didn't see you inside," he replies, choosing to ignore the implications of his statement.

"Well, goodnight. See you tomorrow?" She smiles after stepping through the door.

"See you tomorrow," he nods, turning on his heels and making his way down the porch steps into the cool autumn night.

.

.

May 6, 2014

_Orientation Day_

_Leaving Harvey to mingle with some of his future classmates, Marcus wanders over to the campus coffee house and orders himself a large regular. Waiting for his order at the end of the bar, he spots a woman in jeans and a turtleneck sweater, her long red curls demanding his attention._

_"So, are you here for spring orientation as well?" He smiles, walking over to the woman with his best flirty grin._

_"My daughter is, actually," she replies, a blush settling in._

_"There's no way you're old enough to have a daughter that goes here," he continues to flirt. Older women weren't typically his type but something about this particular stranger had caught his eye._

_"I do, she's going into her first year of law."_

_"So is my brother. A great kid really, I'm just helping him out by driving him into town for the weekend. I'm Marcus Specter," he extends his hand to shake hers._

_"Clara Paulsen," she smiles, letting her palm linger in his. He was much too young for her, but she was flattered by the attention and a little flirting never hurt anybody._

_"Well, I better get back to my daughter. But it was nice to meet you, Marcus."_

_"You as well. Tell your daughter to keep an eye out for my brother, I'm sure they'd really hit it off."_

.

.

October 17 

_Donna's Apartment_

The morning after they present their strategy she lets herself sleep in a little longer than usual. She'd been working hard the past few weeks she'd hardly had any time for herself so today she was going to take a small break.

She had a meeting set up with Harvey that afternoon so she quickly sends him a message asking if he would mind coming over instead. She was hesitant to ask but things had been going so well between them lately she figured it would be fine.

The feelings she harboured for Harvey were practically gone and she saw him as more of a friend, at least that's what she had convinced herself.

He agrees to meet her at her place later that afternoon and with that she begins to get ready for her day.

The doorbell rings while Donna is upstairs drying her hair so Rachel takes it upon herself to answer it. She can't hide her surprise when she finds Harvey on the other side of the door, a box of muffins in hand.

"Harvey," she coos as she steps aside to let him in.

"Rachel," he counters, shifting the box to balance it.

"What are you doing here?" She teases, eyeing him curiously while making no motion to help with the box he was clearly struggling with.

"I have plans with Donna."

"Right," Rachel smirks, finally reaching out and taking the box from Harvey's hand.

"Plans to study," he clarifies while following her into the kitchen.

"Donna!" Rachel yells upstairs to let her know Harvey had arrived.

Harvey and Rachel stand in an awkward silence while they wait for Donna to join them, Harvey not wanting to say anything that fueled Rachel's teasing. He knew Mike had told her about his crush on Donna, and the last thing he needed was for her to tease him in front of Donna.

"Hey, sorry, come upstairs," Donna says as she rushes into the kitchen, her damp hair tossed back over her shoulder.

He follows her in the direction of the stairs and ignores the saucy wink Rachel tosses his way, choosing to focus on the heavenly vanilla scent that must be from Donna's recently washed hair.

He can't help but notice how organized her room is as she leads him towards a large white desk along the wall beneath a large window overlooking the lawn. Her room as decorated with a combination of light and dark blues, her furniture white, providing a crisp, clean look. His eyes briefly roam over the bed, an assortment of decorative pillows perfectly aligned along the top before they settle on the desk and he drops his bookbag.

They settle on either end of her desk while sifting through the feedback Professor Gerrard had given them regarding their proposal. Harvey had a night class to get to later in the evening so they were doing their best to stay focused and finish what they set out to before the meeting.

They break up the feedback and begin to correct their outline separately, the silence no longer awkward but comfortable.

He was surprised when she'd requested to move their meeting to her place, but he took it as a sign that she trusted him, that she trusted herself around him. He hated that he had grown to adore their friendship. Hated that despite what his gut told him, he was okay with being her friend. He hated that as badly as he wanted to feel her lips on his, what he wanted above anything else was to make her happy.

Even if that happy meant swallowing his feelings and pretending they didn't exist.

Fiddling with her pencil, she suddenly looks over at him and has the urge to break the silence filling the space between them, "Tell me something I don't know about you," she asks softly, not daring to look up from her page.

"I never liked the sound of my name, but when you say it, it's not so bad," he admits.

"Tell me something about you," he adds, a softness in his voice that makes her feel vulnerable.

She considers telling him something that her close friends know, something mundane but something in her in screaming that she can trust him and with a deep breath she begins, "I don't trust people very easily. When I was a kid, my dad lost all of our money on a bad investment and he and my mom got into a huge fight. They didn't speak for months and then one day when I came home from school I found him packing a bag," she pauses to wipe away the tears that had formed in the corners of her eyes.

"He said he would be back soon, and he never came back."

"Donna-" he says softly, reaching for her hand and holding it between his palms.

"It's okay," she smiles weakly, "That was a long time ago and I've spent a lot of time getting over it. I only told you well, because for some reason, I trust you."

"I trust you too," he smiles, her hand still bound between his.

"Good," she says, leaning towards him slightly, their eyes momentarily meeting before he mumbles that he should get going and she leads him downstairs.

"You guys have a piano?" he says, stopping halfway down the flight of stairs when he spots a grand piano set up in the corner of the living room.

"We do, do you play?" she asks, stepping past him and walking towards her piano rather than towards the front door.

"No, I've always wanted to learn. I'm assuming you do?" he asks, taking a seat next to her on the piano bench as she flips open the cover on the keys.

"I do, it's been a while though."

"Play me something?"

"Like what?" she laughs lightly, the heaviness from a few moments ago suddenly gone.

"Do you know T_he Scientist_?"

"You want me to play a sad song?" She turns to stare at him, confused.

"I don't think it's a sad song, it's about learning to grow with life, and it just so happens to be one of my favourites."

"You like Coldplay?"

"Don't act so surprised, I have great taste in music."

"Give me your hand," she instructs, guiding his left hand towards the keys before her own fingers ghost over his, his smug smirk suddenly disappearing as the nerves associated with being so close to her settle in.

She pressed his index finger into a key and begins to guide his left hand across the keyboard, slowly demonstrating which keys to press with her own fingers.

They're sitting closer now, her hip pressed firmly against his as they work in tandem to make a melody, his fingers following her lead as she begins to play. She stays focused on the task at hand, the melody of the song becoming clearer as she played on and while she's focused on the keys, he's focused on her.

The way her hands glide effortlessly from left to right all the while guiding his. The way her hair hangs over her shoulder while she bobs along with the tune drifting through the living room. The way her face is fixed with a focused look he wishes he could be engraved in his mind until the end of time because like this, in her natural state, she was a breathtaking sight.

When the song comes to an end she draws in a deep breath before moving her hands away from his and turning to face him with a small smile on her face.

"Well?"

"I knew you had a lot of secret talents, but that was incredible. Thank you, for um, showing me."

"Thank you for letting me," she smirks, sliding off the small wooden bench and immediately missing the warmth accompanying his closeness.

"You're a pretty good teacher."

"You're an average student," she chuckles, leading the way to the front door once again.

"Only average?"

"There's definitely room for improvement."

"Guess we'll have to work on that next time."

"I guess we will," she nods, opening the front door for him.

"Goodnight Harvey."

"Goodnight Donna."

.

.

October 18

_Donna's Apartment_

Rolling over in bed, the sun streaming through the window causes her to squint as she stretches her arms above her head. Bringing her hands down to her sides, her left arm collides with a bare shoulder and he nuzzles further into her side, mumbling a sleepy "good morning."

A small smile creeps across her face as he turns and begins to kiss down her bare side, his chiseled arms taking up residence on either side of her naked body.

"Wow, we really...Last night was…" she muses before he leans up and catches her lips between his, gently tugging on her lower lip to grant his tongue access into her mouth.

"It was," he whispers between kisses.

He takes in her matted hair and her swollen lips and smiles before resuming his previous action of kissing down her body, working his way well past her navel and towards her thighs. He wastes no time in finding her center with his mouth, her hands gripping his hair as he brings her closer and closer to the edge with each flick of his tongue, his name heavy on her lips.

Before she can reach her peak he's glided back up her body and is staring at her with a hunger she recognizes from the night before as need. An all consuming need that she feels as well. The need to feel him inside of her, to fill the desire to have him. With a small nod he's guiding himself to her entrance and she's running her hands over his exposed shoulders as she adjusts to his size. He thrusts into her a few times before she decides to set the pace and roll them both over.

Smack.

She hits the ground beside her bed with a loud bang and jolts awake, her life-like dream slamming into her like a bag of bricks.

She had a sex dream about Harvey._ Again._

This was the third morning in a row she'd woken up on her bedroom floor, aching for a man she decided to turn away.

Ha. It was as if the universe was playing a cruel prank on her. She was the one who decided they should just be friends and now here she was, dreaming about their naked bodies pressed up against each other, about his tongue working it's way...no, she couldn't think about him like this.

It didn't help that the night they spent together was earth-shattering. She never knew that sex could be so good and now she wasn't sure anything would compare to the way stars bloomed behind her closed eyes that night after the bar.

One thing she did know was that the dirty dreams needed to stop. It was hard enough spending every day with the man, she didn't need to spend her unconscious hours thinking about him too.

.

.

October 18

_Campus Coffee Shop_

Rachel grabs the two steaming cups of coffee and joins Donna at a table in the campus coffee shop. The two girls had spent the afternoon shopping and this was the first time they'd sat and taken a moment to relax all day.

Donna had been quiet all morning and Rachel had a funny feeling it had to do with a certain young law student that spent hours at their house the day before, but she didn't dare bring it up. She and Donna had grown increasingly closer over the past month and Rachel learned rather quickly that if Donna wanted to talk about something, she would bring it up on her own and hated when people pried.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Donna asks her out of the blue.

"You know you're annoyingly smart," Rachel fires back. Donna's ability to understand classroom material in a matter of seconds was something Rachel was in constant awe of and she often teased Donna about her "nerdy" abilities.

"I don't mean school smart, I mean life smart. I just feel like I've made some questionable decisions lately…" she sighs, her elbows propped up on the wooden table.

"Harvey?"

"Harvey."

"But I thought you didn't want…"

"I didn't. But now…"

"Holy shit! You can't get over him!"

"I can't stop thinking about him, that way. I thought I was making the right decision but now I'm not so sure."

"Why can't you just tell him you want more?" Rachel inquires.

"I made such a big deal out of not wanting more, and I'm still concerned it'll end poorly I just…"

"You're curious."

"Very," Donna admits, "He's just so different from every other guy I've met recently. When I talk, I feel like he's listening to every word I say, it's hard to explain I just feel like he cares. He makes me feel like everything I say matters. And the dreams are not helping."

"The dreams?"

"You know… _dreams_," Donna explains while glaring at Rachel, hoping she'll catch on and not make her elaborate while they're out in public.

"Riiight, gotcha. Well, speaking from experience, denying your heart what it wants is no way to live. I told myself I couldn't date Mike because he was younger and I was miserable for weeks. Don't do something because you have a predetermined notation of what's right Donna, sometimes you've got to live a little."

"When did you become so wise?" Donna teases, grateful to have found someone like Rachel that she could confide in.

"You may be the smart one, but I've always been the wise one. Especially when it comes to matters of the heart. I'm sorry Don, but love is your blind spot."

"Who said anything about love we were talking about sex?"

"Were we?"

.

.

An hour and a few croissants later, Scottie joins Donna and Rachel at the coffee shop after her group meeting with Samantha, a sour look painted over her face as she wordlessly slides into the vacant seat next to Rachel with a huff.

"I take it the meeting went well?" Donna smirks knowing full well that Scottie and Samantha did not get along. The past few weeks had been riddled with complaints about how hot-headed and stubborn the blonde was, and after her chat with Rachel, Donna was feeling much more light-hearted and carefree, which lead to her teasing Scottie.

"She's the most stubborn person I've ever met in my entire life and I hate working with her!"

"I thought you guys did well on your proposal?" Rachel asks absentmindedly.

"That's not the point! She shows up to every meeting thinking she can dictate the entire project, never listens to what I have to say and is just plain rude and on top of everything today she had the nerve to ask me what was going on with you and Harvey!"

"Wait, what? Why?" Donna panics. Aside from Scottie, Rachel and Mike she didn't think anyone knew about that night at the bar but if Samantha was asking, maybe her one night stand wasn't quite the secret she'd like it to be.

"She wanted to know if anything was going on between the two of you, something about being interested in him?" Scottie says, reaching for the half eaten pastry on Rachel's plate and stuffing it into her mouth.

"Why would she think that?"

"She just said you two seemed close and she didn't want to overstep. At least she's courteous in that regard, lord knows it would kill her to listen to what I think our offensive approach should be."

"We're not - close," Donna rambles, her cheeks slowly fading into the colour of her hair, "We're just partners, that's all."

"But Donna I thought?" Rachel begins to question before Donna interrupts her and tells Scottie to relay a message to Samantha that Harvey was fair game.

"She should go for it, honestly I think they'd be cute," Donna says, hoping it sounds more convincing out loud than it does in her head.

"I told her you weren't together and I think she was going to go for it, I hope that's alright?" Scottie asks rather than states as she turns to face Donna.

"Why wouldn't it be?" she replies and watches as Scottie and Rachel exchange a knowing glance.

"You guys we've talked about this. Harvey and I are not together. Did we have one incredible night? Yes. Am I still attracted to him, of course, but that doesn't mean I want more and it doesn't mean he does either. It's not what's best for us. If Samantha wants to ask him out, good on her and if he wants to say yes because she makes him happy, that's all that matters because I am over Harvey Specter!"

"But you'd rather be under Harvey Specter" Rachel giggles as she and Scottie double over with laughter.

.

.

October 19

_Ethics Class_

She gets to class extra early to meet Harvey so they can go over a few minor details of their project before class. He's already sitting in the front row when she walks in, to buried in whatever he was reading to hear the clacking of her heels against the tile floor as she comes up from behind him.

"Sooo, get asked out on any dates lately?" she smirks as she reaches his desk and leans against it.

"Maybe, what's it to you?" he flirts, cocking his head and flashing her a toothy smile.

"Did you say yes?" she asks, needing to know despite telling herself she didn't care.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't say yes?" he challenges and rises to his feet so his eyes are levelled with hers.

"No," she replies, looking him straight in the eye as the words leave her lips.

"Then I said yes," he shrugs before pacing towards the trash can to discard of his gum and reclaiming his seat.

Of course he'd said yes. Samantha was a beautiful, intelligent woman who wasn't afraid to go after what she wanted. She should be happy that he was finally moving on, that he'd begun to see her as just a friend. It was what she claimed she wanted all along, and yet, if that was the case why did the thought of him going out with Samantha make her want to scream.

* * *

**AN: Stay tuned for Ch 4 - "Batman and His Other Robin" **


	4. Chapter 4

_Happy Halloween! xx _

* * *

**Chapter 4: Batman and His Other Robin****  
**

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October 19

_Ethics Class_

"Then I said yes," he shrugs before pacing towards the trash can to discard of his gum and reclaiming his seat.

Truthfully, he only said yes because he knew going on a date with someone else was a sure fire way to move on. His dreams had been filled with her flaming locks, the feeling of her lips on his that night in the bar heavy on his mind even long after his eyes snapped open. Samantha seemed like a nice girl and she was easy on the eyes so he figured taking her for dinner couldn't hurt.

He'd told her he would have to check his schedule before he could give her an answer when she asked him out, only because he was waiting to see what Donna would think. He knows how wrong it is, to see what the girl he's trying to move on from thinks about him going out with the girl he's trying to move on with, but he can't help himself.

He refused to acknowledge that it was possible he said yes because he wanted to make Donna jealous, but rather he chalked it up to trying to move on. This was his chance to move past this, his chance to look at Donna as only a friend, to look at Donna the way she wanted him to.

.

She plans on getting out of the classroom after the lecture as soon as it ends, her intention to avoid having another awkward conversation with Harvey about his pending date but she gets caught up talking to Scottie and next thing she knows Harvey is standing next to her.

"Harvey," Scottie beams over at him, calling Donna's attention to where he's waiting behind her.

"Ladies," he grins back, folding his arms across his chest.

"What can we do for you?" Scottie asks, unaware of his previous conversation about his date with Donna but still aware that Samantha was going to ask him on one.

"Do you want to grab coffee?" he asks softly, "Donna," he clarifies.

"What?" she stares back at him, confused.

"You know coffee, that hot caffeinated beverage that you like to put vanilla in?" he jokes, watching as Scottie smirks when she hears him tease Donna.

"I thought maybe we could continue our conversation from earlier?" he adds.

"Didn't we finish it?"

"Maybe, but I'd love to grab coffee anyway."

"Um, yeah, sure," Donna agrees, turning towards Scottie to make sure it's alright that she bail on their afternoon plans.

"I'll meet you there in half an hour?" she suggests, needing time to gather her thoughts and get herself together.

"Sure, see you later," he calls before heading out of the classroom, only looking back over his shoulder to steal a glance once he's sure she's no longer watching him leave.

"What was that all about?" Scottie asks Donna.

"Honestly, I don't have a clue. He told me he agreed to go out with Samantha and asked if there was a reason he shouldn't have, I thought that was that."

"What did you say?"

"To what?"

"When he asked if there was a reason he shouldn't go…" Scottie glares at Donna, always hopeful that her redheaded friend will suddenly come to the realization that she was madly in love with Harvey.

"I told him he should go. I mean it Scottie I want him to be happy," Donna sighs, tired of constantly having to explain herself. These past few weeks she felt like a broken record, spewing the same few lines about how she didn't want more and she was growing tired of having to explain herself, especially to her friends.

"I'm proud of you, for being so mature about all of this."

"Why?"

"Because I know you and I know that deep down you still have feelings for him. And even though you're choosing to ignore them because you feel it's what's best for you, it can't be easy to watch him move on. I know it wouldn't be easy for me and I'm proud of you for being so strong."

"Thanks, Scottie. I needed to hear that."

"You know I'm always here for you Don."

.

.

October 19

_Campus Coffee Shop_

She finds Harvey seated at a table in front of the large storefront window, two cups of coffee already placed in front of him. He greets her with a smile, though not his classic grin, the one that went straight to her heart, this smile was smaller, more timid, nearly cautious.

He waves her over once he spots her and she joins him while thanking him for ordering her coffee before taking a seat across from him and staring out the window at the park across the street. Most of the trees had already shed their leaves and the park was littered with a sea of orange and red, her favourite thing about this time of year.

He watches as she stares at an older couple strolling through the park, their hands wound together as they made their way across the lawn and towards the street, laughing as they walked. She looked incredible, as she always did, but there was something about the softness in her expression as she watched the older couple that caused her to glow and he was taken in by it.

"So," she breaks the silence, "You wanted to continue our conversation?"

"I just wanted to make sure we were still okay? After our conversation earlier I wasn't sure…"

"We're fine Harvey. We're friends. And friends want their other friends to be happy."

"So me and Samantha…"

"It doesn't bother me."

"Okay. Good," he smiles, subconsciously reaching out for her hand and stroking it reassuringly with his thumb.

The instant their hands connect she's transported back to that night he took her home from the bar and he guided her down the hall while his thumb traced a similar pattern along the back of her palm.

.

_Pinning Donna against the wall in the hall, he runs his hands along the length of her body while his lips collide with hers over and over again, desperate to fuse with them. She brings one leg up and wraps it around his waist, urging him forward and feeling his hardness pressed against her aching centre as her hands pull him closer to her._

_Stepping back from her he allows her to slip her fingers between his as she steps away from the wall he had her pressed up against. He tugs her in the direction of his bedroom, leading her down the hall, their fingers intertwined. She smiles to herself as his thumb runs along the back of her palm, each gentle stroke setting her skin on fire. It's a forgein concept to her, how such a simple action can make her feel so alive and yet she wants to remember this feeling forever._

_He pauses when he reaches the door, leaning in so his lips fall directly above her ear._

_"You are so beautiful," he whispers before drawing her earlobe between his teeth, his action accompanied by his words causing her to toss her head back with a euphoric cry._

_"Harvey Specter you are going to be the death of me," she mumbles as he begins to kiss down her neck._

.

He pulls away almost as quickly as he reaches for her hand and opens his mouth to explain why he reached for it when Mike and Rachel stumble through the door and spot him and Donna seated near the window. Before Harvey can speak Mike calls his name and he and Rachel are on their way over to the vacant seats at their table.

Rachel picks up on the charged energy between the pair, the lingering looks and the silence hanging between them as she and Mike settle in at their table.

"Mind if we join you?" Mike asks, despite having already joined them.

"I guess not," Harvey replies, feigning annoyance.

"What are you two doing here?" Mike adds, looking between Donna and Harvey who won't quite look each other in the eye.

"Just thought we'd grab a coffee after class," Harvey explains.

"Donna, you're coming to the Halloween party with Rachel, right?" Mike asks again, practically having a conversation with himself seeing as no one else at the table was attempting to start one.

"I think so," she says.

"Do you guys have a costume yet?"

"Mike has been dying to know but I told him it was a secret," Rachel explains to Donna, who takes one look at Mike's pleading face and can't help but chuckle at the couple's childish antics.

"You mean you didn't tell him we've decided to go as PlayBoy Mansion Bunnies?" She smirks, Mike's eyes practically leaping out of his skull which sends her and Rachel into a giggle fit.

"That's not funny! I thought you were serious!" Mike pouts and even Harvey can't help but laugh.

"Donna did tell me they were considering a Charlie's Angels thing," Harvey tosses out, the opportunity to tease Mike too tempting to resist.

"Sorry Harvey, that must've been something you dreamt about," Donna teases him, his attempt to fool with Mike taking a complete turn and back firing on him.

Turning red, he tries to explain himself but is tongue tied and flustered which only causes the girls to laugh harder.

"I'm just teasing you," Donna smirks, and this time it's her hand that touches his hand reassuringly. It only lasts a moment before she pulls her hand away but the charged energy lingers and Rachel catches her friends stealing glances of one another between laughs.

"Do you really want to know?" Rachel asks Mike, "because we will give you one hint and only one hint."

"Fine. We'll take the hint." Mike answers, and Harvey wonders how he got roped into being included in this conversation. He'd agreed to go to the party with Mike but he hadn't thought far enough ahead to consider his own costume, let alone other people's costumes.

"Think _super_," Rachel smirks across the table at her boyfriend.

"That's so broad!" Mike complains.

"Use that genius mind of yours and figure it out," Rachel reasons, "now, Donna and I are going to the mall to do so much needed shopping."

"We are?" Donna asks her friend who's already begun to leave her seat.

"Do you have time?"

"Yeah, why not, let's do some shopping," she replies, joining Rachel as she leaves the table. Rachel tells Mike she'll see him later and waves goodbye to Harvey while Donna mumbles goodbye to them collectively and follows Rachel out of the shop. She steals a glance of Harvey before she exits and finds his eyes already glued to her, filled with a plethora of things left unsaid.

.

.

October 21

_Alden & Harlow_

He manages to get ready in record time, dragging a comb through his hair one last time before grabbing his keys and tossing on a pair of sneakers. He wouldn't say he didn't put effort into how he looked for his date, but he also couldn't be bothered to double check his appearance before he left.

He had no intention of dating anyone but when Samantha approached him while he was studying beneath one of the large arches that made up that pathway to the courtyard, he said yes to a date.

The combination of her courage and his confusion in regards to Donna had him agreeing to the date before he could even process the question she'd asked, and now here he was, on his way to pick her up and take her to a restaurant recommended by his brother.

He contemplates his decision to take Samantha out as he walks to the car, something Mike said playing on a loop in his mind.

_"You can't trick yourself into falling out of love."_

Even after explaining he didn't love Donna, he was merely attracted to her, Mike was persistent that his statement still applied.

And maybe he was right. Maybe taking Samantha out was a huge mistake but he'd already committed to taking her out and he was a man of his word, he couldn't back out now.

Maybe the mistake wasn't in trying to move on, but rather in pretending he wanted to.

The drive to Samantha's is short and his doubts about their date are quickly silenced as he waits for her to answer the door. She answers it wearing dark jeans and a white blouse, almost an identical outfit as the one Donna wore on the day they met and he knows this is a mistake.

A mistake because he is undoubtedly into Donna Paulsen and he was a fool if he thought distracting himself with another woman would work. A fool to think that he wanted to move on, when really he was forcing himself to move on because it was what he thought she wanted.

God, that was the most confusing part. He wanted her to be happy, but at what expense? Where did he draw the line between his selfish desires and the need he felt to do what would make her happy.

Staring at Samantha in her white blouse he's taken back to that day in the hallway nearly a month prior, where the wild eyed stubborn redhead stole his jacket and a small piece of his heart.

He didn't believe in true love. He didn't believe in love at first sight. And yet, standing here on Samantha Wheeler's porch he suddenly starts to re-evaluate everything he once believed regarding the L word.

He found himself rethinking things more and more these days, so much so that he was tempted to refer to his shifting opinion as _The Donna Paulsen Effect._

She was infuriating, yet fascinating. Beautiful and brilliant. But she didn't want more.

She didn't want more.

And she'd made it clear she wasn't going to change her mind. She was stubborn, that much he knew and he decided long ago that he'd rather have her in his life as a friend than not have her in his life at all.

"You look incredible," he greets Samantha, the word beautiful hanging on the tip of his tongue but it feels wrong and leaves a bitter taste in his mouth, therefore he leaves it left unsaid.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she smiles.

"Shall we?" He asks, extended a hand she accepts.

He leads her to the car and opens her door, waiting for her to slide into the passenger's seat before he rounds the car and climbs behind the wheel.

The car ride begins with awkward small talk but by the time they reach the restaurant recommended to him by Marcus they're engaged in a conversation about boxing, something they both enjoyed in high school.

Marcus had given Harvey such a hard time about the girl he was taking out, wanting to know all the details about his date but Harvey spared him. He wasn't sure how the evening was going to go and the last thing he wanted was for Marcus asking about a horrible date.

They're seated near the back of the restaurant, a small candle illuminating the space around their table.

"I'm glad we're doing this," he smiles over at the blonde after the waitress takes their drink orders.

"Me too. Honestly, I was a little surprised when you said yes."

"Why's that?" He asks.

"I thought maybe you and Donna had something going on."

"It's not like that… we're friends!" He's quick to explain and it's only when she's staring back at him, analysing him, that he realizes perhaps he was too quick to explain his non-existent relationship with Donna.

"I see," she clucks her tongue, leaning back in her chair, her voice heavy with disinterest.

"Don't do that" he says "Don't do that thing where you suddenly act like my friendship with her is going to ruin whatever this could be."

"Okay, I won't," Samantha nods, impressed with his forwardness.

"Alright hot shot, since you knew about this secretly good restaurant, what do you recommend?" she smirks, closing her menu and giving him her undivided attention.

The rest of their dinner is filled with competitive debates and flirty remarks and at some point during the meal Samantha's hand finds a place on Harvey's thigh beneath the table. It's a foreign feeling at first, but he welcomes it. Despite the absence of fire he felt just the morning before when Donna reached for his hand, despite the way he knows he can be made to feel alive with a single touch, he welcomes it.

Samantha was easy to talk to and the conversation was far from forced, but he couldn't help himself from comparing her to Donna. Samantha liked to watch sports, Donna liked to watch plays. Samantha was from a broken family, and so was Donna. For every story Samantha told, he found himself wondering what Donna would think, what she would do. He knows it's wrong, but the more he tells himself to forget about her, the more she's playing on the forefront of his mind.

It was odd, because unlike most women, he'd found Samantha interesting and under normal circumstances he would have been thrilled to have met someone who was even remotely interesting. But these were not normal circumstances and she was no Donna Paulsen.

He walks Samantha to her porch after dinner and awkwardly stuffs his hands in his pant pockets as she thanks him for a nice evening. He leans in to kiss her because he knows it's what she expects but his kiss is tentative and close lipped, forced.

"Look Harvey, if you're not into this just tell me now because I could really see us being something but if you have feelings for someone else, like I think you do, they are going to keep you from going all in here, tell me now so I can bow out."

"Samantha, I am so sorry… "

"It's fine. But do us both a favour and tell her how you feel."

"I have," he admits, "she just wants to be friends."

"I've seen the way she looks at you, it isn't how I look at my friends."

"She claims that's all she wants, something about not wanting to deal with the aftermath if something goes wrong."

"Then show her why it's worth the risk. Show her why you're worth the risk."

"What if I'm not?"

"I think the first step is believing that you are. You're a good guy Harvey," she smiles before leaning up and placing a kiss on his cheek, her hands lingering on his chest before she excuses herself and heads towards her door.

He stays put for a moment, rooted in his spot on her porch, the evening wind howling around him the only sound present aside for the voice in his head screaming that he'd made a mistake here tonight, that he should have tried harder to move on.

.

.

October 22

_Harvard Courtyard_

Donna and Scottie had been camped out at a picnic table in the quad all afternoon doing readings. It was unusually warm for a late fall day and they decided to take advantage of the weather and enjoy the last of the sunshine while working outside.

Scottie is the first to spot Samantha making her way over to their table and holds her breath hoping things between her and Donna won't be awkward.

"Hey are we still on for that meeting later?" Samantha asks Scottie, avoiding looking at or acknowledging Donna altogether.

"Sure, 7:30?"

"Works for me," Samantha replies. Before she can turn and leave, she turns her attention from Scottie to Donna and forces herself to smile.

"I thought you'd like to know that things didn't work out between us, me and Harvey I mean."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that Samantha," Donna apologizes after Samantha's words catch her completely off guard.

"No you aren't," Samantha replies without hesitation.

Taken aback, Donna takes a few moments to gather her thoughts before she tries to reassure Samantha that she truly is sorry that things didn't workout between her and Harvey. Was part of her relieved? Absolutely. But there wasn't a chance in hell she was going to tell Samantha that, or anyone else for that matter.

"I don't know what happened or didn't happen between the two of you but he's still into you and if there's even a small chance you want to be with him, tell him," she adds before leaving Donna to her own thoughts.

What the hell did Samantha even mean? Did Harvey say something about her? She knew when they'd first been paired to work together he was still into her, he even told her so, but that was nearly a month prior and she thought he'd moved on. Yes, they spent a lot of time together and there had been a few moments, but nothing that lead her to believe he still harboured romantic feelings towards her. She doubted someone as handsome and successful as Harvey would wait around and pine for someone like her.

And then, there was her rule. The rule she told herself she would abide by so that nothing would stand in the way of her earning her degree. But what if she wanted more?

Why couldn't she have it all? The big career and the boy? When did the world get to a point that meant she had to only choose one? There was no unwritten rule that said she couldn't be a successful woman while being in love and having a man at her side. Gosh, love. Was that what this was? Was she really considering that she loved a man she hardly knew. Yes, they'd grown closer over the past month, but the word love was daunting. She'd always considered it a loaded word, filled with double meanings and uncertainty, but now, for some reason, she associated it with his name.

It could be because their friendship had redeveloped and grown strong, and she was the type to tell her friends how much they meant to her, how much she loved and cared for them. But part of her knew there was something else here, another reason the L word fell upon the tip of her tongue at the mere thought of his name.

Too lost in her own thoughts, Donna hardly hears Scottie mumble something about fate before she resumes her readings and tries to focus on anything else.

.

.

October 22nd

_Harvey's Apartment_

"How'd your date go last night? I expected you to come home much later," Mike winks as he joins Harvey in the kitchen and immediately goes for the fresh pot of coffee sitting on the counter.

"It was fine," Harvey mumbles into his breakfast.

"It was fine? The Harvey I know would've been mid way through a story about how good she was in bed, what gives?"

"Nothing, just drop it Mike," Harvey warns.

"Alright, I'll drop it. Do you think you'll bring her to the Halloween party?"

"I doubt it. Didn't seem like a second date was really in the cards."

"The old Harvey would've rigged the deck!"

"Mike!" Harvey warns again, only louder.

"Right, we're not talking about it. And we're not talking about Donna. Hmmm, I wonder if those two things are related. You go out on a date with a smoking hot girl and now you're cranky and telling me there isn't going to be a second date, you're a goner my friend, you've got it bad."

"Have you told her?" Mike pushes when Harvey doesn't reply to his prior observation.

"There's nothing to tell," Harvey sighs, sick of having the same conversation day in and day out.

"Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?"

"She doesn't want more, okay? She doesn't want more and I'm trying to move on."

"Are you sure? Because Rachel seems to think that you two belong together. Look Harvey, she told you she didn't want anything else back when you two were strangers, but you're not strangers anymore. I think you should give it one more shot before you throw in the towel."

"And if she isn't interested?"

"At least you didn't fail because you didn't try."

.

.

October 23 

_Library Study Room_

They had been hard at work on putting their case together for the majority of the afternoon, tucked away in their little corner of the library once again. Harvey was unusually quiet today, and there was an energy about him she couldn't quite put her finger on.

She knew that things with Samantha hadn't ended well and it took everything in her not to ask him what happened point blank. She knew it wasn't her place to ask but she also thought they'd become the type of friends that talked about things, and not just school related things.

She'd spent her evening mulling over every possible outcome of what would happen if she admitted she'd made a mistake, admitted she wanted more. In every scenario, he was angry with her and she ended up more confused than ever.

Maybe Samantha was right, maybe he did want more and all she needed to do was tell him she was in the same place. But what if he didn't and she ruined their friendship by putting herself out there?

Clearing her throat, she decides to go for it and adhere to the motto she'd created for herself back when they first met; she was going to be unapologetically herself and put herself out there.

"Do you still think about it?" she begins, her voice quivering as she pushes through her nervousness, "that night at the bar."

"I'm human Donna, of course I think about it. But I think you made the right call. You and me, we work as friends and I'm glad we were able to preserve our friendship."

His words slam into her full force, and suddenly she forgets why she brought up the topic. Whatever sliver of hope she had that he might still be interested in being more than friends was obliterated with a simple sentence and her heart aches. She knew she shouldn't have let herself get her hopes up, knew better than to give herself hope, yet she did and now she was shattered.

"Right. Me too," she mutters before returning to her work, turning her head so the tears forming go unnoticed by him.

He swears something changes when she answers him, she sounds deflated but he convinces himself that he's reading into things. She was testing him and he answered with what he knew she wanted to hear, despite his answer being the furthest thing from the truth. He knows he's been told time and time again to just tell her how he feels, but when he looks at her all he wants is for her to be happy and he refuses to take her happiness away because he's selfish and can't handle his feelings for her. So, when she brings up that night he buries his feelings and ignores the voice in his head that's screaming at him to tell her what he really wants to say, and he tells her what he thinks she wants to hear.

Only it isn't what she wants to hear, it's quite the opposite and she's left feeling like a fool for even trying to bring it up. She was the one who grabbed the stick and drew a line in the sand. She was the one who insist they not cross it, and now she was the one who was going to have to pretend her feelings for him were non-existent.

They study in silence for the rest of the evening, Donna angry with herself and angry at Harvey for moving on and Harvey confused about Donna's sudden shift in attitude. She realizes she has no right to be angry with him, but she can't help herself from resenting him for telling her how much he valued her decision to remain strictly friends. Maybe she should've just blurted it out anyways, told him how she felt about him, but she couldn't. She wasn't the type of person to destroy a friendship for selfish reasons, she just didn't have it in her, but she also wasn't the type of person to walk away from something she wanted.

_"Paulsen women go after what they want."_

Her mom's voice rings through her ears and she knows what she needs to do. She would simply begin to flirt with Harvey and see if their relationship naturally progressed. It wasn't ideal, but at least it was a happy medium.

Sitting back in his chair, his page sitting in front of him, blank, he can't focus on the task at hand. Instead, he's left wondering if he did the right thing. He could have told her like Mike and Samantha urged him to, but he couldn't bring himself to put his own feelings before hers and he suspected that would always be the case. He was never going to disregard her needs and with that realization he knows it's time to try and move on, and move on for good.

.

.

October 27

_Ethics Class_

After excusing herself to go meet Rachel the night before, she hadn't talked to Harvey until they were setting up to present their strategy to professor Gerrard after class the next day.

Her bitterness for his quick dismissal of their conversation yesterday had heightened since the day prior and she decided to let herself revel in it for the time being.

"You ready?" He smiles as they wait outside the professor's office.

"Sure," she remarks, hardly turning to face him.

"Donna, did I do something to upset you?" He asks, picking up on the annoyance in her tone.

"Nope. Everything's fine."

"Everything doesn't seem fine?"

"Well it is," she snaps.

Before he has the chance to protest, Professor Gerrard calls them into his office. He means to talk to her about it afterwards, but she's out of the office and long out of sight by the time he turns to do so.

Maybe he was onto something in the library the other night. He must have done something to upset her, he just wasn't sure what he'd done.

.

.

Tossing his keys into the counter he heads straight for the fridge and grabs himself a glass of soda. He notices Mike's door is semi- open as he walks by and he knocks.

"Hey, what's up?" Mike greets him, looking up from his desk.

"I think I did something to piss Donna off."

"You think, or you know?"

"Yesterday I thought, but after today I'm pretty sure."

"And you have no idea what you did?"

"Not a clue. One minute we were studying and the next she would hardly look at me, let alone speak to me," he explains.

"And you said nothing?"

"Well she brought up that night in the bar again, so I told her what I knew she wanted to hear, that I'm glad we decided to be friends."

"You're an idiot" Mike chuckles, getting up and walking over to Harvey so he can pat his back.

"Why? What am I missing here?"

"Harvey, I doubt Donna brought that night up randomly. I bet you anything she wanted to talk about it because much like you, she still has those feelings," Mike smirks as the realization of what he'd done slowly washes over Harvey's face.

"And if that's the case I basically put the nail in the friendship coffin," he sighs, dropping his head into his hands in frustration.

"Why is this so complicated?!" He yells, "if we're both into each other why can't we just be together?"

"That's what we've all been wondering this entire time," Mike adds, only fuelling Harvey's frustration.

"It shouldn't be this hard…"

"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but maybe you two just weren't meant to be," Mike says. He knows Rachel would kill him for saying something like this to Harvey, but he was starting to wonder if maybe his friends just weren't destined to be together.

"What do I do now? She'll hardly look at me."

"The only thing you can do, you find a date to the Halloween party and if we're right about why she's mad at you, you hope it makes her jealous enough to confront you, and then you win her over."

"That sounds absolutely insane."

"Maybe it is. But all is fair and love and war my friend."

"Why do I have to make her jealous? Why can't I just talk to her?"

"Because if she gets jealous you'll know how she feels," Mike elaborates on his plan and Harvey begins to see his point. It isn't the most mature plan, granted, but he's desperate and will do anything at this point.

"You just said maybe we don't belong together? Why go through all this trouble?"

"Because you love her. And in the end, nothing else matters," Mike smiles at his friend before launching into a list of potential dates for the Halloween party.

.

.

October 31

_Harvard Law Halloween Bash_

Putting on a final coat of red lipstick, Donna gives herself a once over in the bathroom mirror before joining Scottie and Rachel in her room. The girls had decided to put Rachel in charge of their costumes and were pleasantly surprised when she showed up at Donna's house with three superhero costumes in hand.

Rachel has gone above and beyond in picking out each of their outfits and surprised them both when she pulled out three matching blonde wigs to go along with the outfits, something she tried to convince them would be cute and fun.

After some heavy protest, Rachel finally managed to convince them that the blonde wigs would be a fun experience, since Halloween was a night where it was acceptable to pretend to be something else.

Adjusting her black mask over her eyes, Donna peers at her friends costumes and smiles to herself. She had to admit, as an ensemble they looked pretty damn good. She didn't know much about superheroes but Rachel told her her costume, complete with a green skirt and a corset like red tube top was Robin, while Scottie's black leather outfit was supposed to be Black Widow. Rachel has opted to dress herself as the Wasp and all three women completed their looks with matching short blonde wigs and knee high black boots.

She wasn't sure if they were supposed to be some type of superhero group, but with the blonde wigs they looked like they could be a unit and she thought it was cute.

She also liked the way her costumes highlighted her waistline and her breasts, after all she knew Harvey and Mike were attending the party and she was looking to impress him. Her plan to win him over had come and gone with her indecisiveness and insecurities over the past few days and currently, she was in a state of accepting them as just friends, a state that was likely to change the moment she saw him.

She knew that she should just make her mind and stick to a plan, but as much as she wanted to be with Harvey, she couldn't ignore the fear that came with things going wrong in regards to her career path if things didn't work out between them.

She was in a state of teetering. One minute she was ready to go all in and the next she was ready to run.

The girls arrived at the party a little past ten and it was already in full swing. The program had rented out a bar bigger than the campus one and it was decorated with an assortment of jack-o-lanterns, bats and every typical Halloween item under the sun. The dance floor in the center of the bar was being illuminated by a disco ball and a smoke machine and each of the bartenders was wearing a tiara and a pair of fairy wings, something Donna found cute.

"My gosh woman you are a sight for sore eyes," Louis greets when he spots Donna near the bar. Louis was a first year law student she shared her evening lectures with and over the past month they'd grown rather close for two people who simply sat next to each other. She learned that Louis lived with his girlfriend Sheila and their cat, Bruno and that he was hoping to be a be a judge someday. The pair bonded over their mutual love of Shakespeare and every Monday night Louis would bring Donna and extra double chocolate cookie to enjoy during their lecture.

Their friendship was pure and Louis was a kindred spirit and she was glad he'd decided to make an appearance at the party.

"Scottie, Rachel, this is my friend Louis," she introduces her friends who both shake Louis' hand.

"Nice to meet you," he smiles beneath his painted whiskers. Unsurprisingly, Louis was dressed as a black cat, the type of cat he'd once told Donna was the most majestic while she tried not to giggle in class.

"I have to go find Sheila but I'll see you around?" He flashes Donna a smile with his question.

"Absolutely," she relies before turning back towards her friends who place a martini in her hand.

"What is this?" She stares down at the clear drink, olive floating in the glass.

"A drink, cheers," both blonde-turned-fake-brunettes smile as they raise their glasses and clink them to the edge of Donna's.

"Can we get another round?" Scottie calls to a large man wearing pink wings with a flirtatious smile.

As they wait for the drinks, Donna scans the bar, hoping to find him somewhere in the crowd. She spots him by the door, or at least someone she assumes to be him in a Batman costume. He looks handsome in his dark costume, his shirt fitted to his chiseled arms, his honey brown eyes the only thing visible beneath his mask. She considers wandering over and saying hello when a short blonde approaches him and links her arm through his and her heart sinks. He was here with someone else. Someone else wearing the exact same costume she was no less, she notices the way the red and green hug the girls body, much like her own costume does. She continues to scan the rest of the crowd, hoping to find more girls in red and green, hoping that maybe the costume was popular this year and this was a total coincidence but she comes up empty handed.

Too preoccupied looking around to notice their drinks had arrived and that Mike was now standing at Rachel's side, Scottie taps her on the shoulder and calls her attention back to the group.

"Wow Donna, I almost didn't recognize you! You look so different as a blonde! Great costume taste though," Mike smirks as the realization that Mike is also wearing a Robin costume washes over Donna.

"Is this a popular costume or something?" She stares back at Mike.

"Because two people out of hundreds are wearing it?" Scottie asks, confused.

"Three," Donna corrects her and all eyes turn towards her.

"Who else is?" Before Rachel can say wearing it Donna answers her question.

"Harvey's date."

"Harvey's what?!" Rachel turns towards Mike with wife eyes, willing him to explain.

"Date?" He chokes, his statement coming out as more of a question than a statement.

"Would you two give us a minute?" Rachel asks, pulling Mike away from her friends so she can lecture him.

"Harvey brought a date?"

"You put Donna in a blonde wig?"

"Mike! That's not the point! Harvey bringing a date has you causing trouble written all over it, now spill!"

"Why can't he bring a date? It's Halloween just let him have some fun," Mike says, avoiding the question being asked.

"Because Donna is into him!"

"And? We know they're into each other it's not like either of them are going to do something about it."

"But Donna was going to, I think. She's been going on and on about how maybe she made a mistake and then the other night she came home pissed because she tried to bring it up and Harvey told her he was glad they decided to be friends. She was finally ready to take a chance Mike! And I thought maybe if they both showed up here, had a few drinks, you know some liquid courage that they might be able to work things out."

"Shit. I told him to bring a date to see if it would make Donna jealous. He wanted to just talk to her and I told him this was better."

"You're an idiot…" Rachel groans, "how is this better?"

The couple look over to where Donna is seated next to Scottie at the bar, her eyes glued on where Harvey and his date are standing at the edge of the dance floor.

"Isn't it?" He cocks his head with a smile, "it's working, she's jealous."

"How is that a good thing for anyone?" Rachel fires back.

"Because when he sees that, he's going to know she feels the same way about him and hopefully he'll man up enough to do something about it."

"You really think that's going to happen?"

"I hope it is. You said she was pissed at him the other night? Well, all I know is that it takes a whole lot of love to come home hate someone someone. Those two are soul mates."

"I thought you didn't believe in soul mates?" Rachel questions.

"I never did, but then I met you," he smiles, hooking his thumbs around her waist and pulling her in for a far from PG kiss.

Pulling back he chuckles to himself, "What?" She asks.

"Nothing it's just, I'm dressed as Robin because Harvey's dressed as Batman and we're supposed to be doing a group costume. When he told his date he was going as Batman she went out and bought a Robin costume and we thought it was funny that he had two Robins. But you dressed Donna as Robin, a blonde Robin no less. They literally look the exact same, they could switch places," Mike nods between Donna and Harvey's date.

"Oh god, they really could, couldn't they?" Rachel giggles, the resemblance between her roommate and the random girl on Harvey's arm uncanny.

"Why did you pick Robin?"

"Duh, we're a group of superheroes," she gestured between her own costume and Scottie and Donna's.

"But Rach, you know that Black Widow and the Wasp are from a different universe than Robin, right?"

"I have no idea what any of those words mean, but in MY universe it works," she replies.

"Oh good lord. Next weekend I am teaching you everything you need to know about superheroes. You really thought that this was a group costume?!"

"It is a group costume!"

"Oh my, you have so much to learn," he wraps his arm around her shoulder and leads her back towards her friends.

"Can I buy you ladies a drink?" Mike smiles as they rejoin the group.

"Absolutely," Scottie beams from her seat on a bar stool next to Donna who is glaring at Mike.

"What?" He defensively tosses his hands up.

"The girl?" She states bluntly, she was on the 'going for it' side tonight and nothing, and no one was going to stand in her way.

"A random girl he brought to make you jealous," Mike admits in one swift breath.

"What? Why?" Donna crinkles her nose.

"Common Donna, you know why."

.

.

He watched from the corner of his eye as Mike made his way over to a group of girls at the bar. He didn't recognize the girls at first, the sea of blonde throwing him off but once Mike kisses Rachel hello he realizes the three blondes are Scottie, Donna and Rachel.

He hardly acknowledges his date when she excuses herself to go and check her coat, his attention fixed on the blonde girl in the Robin costume at the bar. The irony that she was dressed as Robin wasn't lost on him and for a split second he wonders if Mike and Rachel did this on purpose. He doubts they did though, because Mike gave him a hard time about his date also dressing as Batman, something about Batman only needing one Robin.

She looks incredible, the costume showing off her body, the freckles on her neck just begging to be kissed. Even as a blonde, she was breathtakingly beautiful and for the first time that evening he wanted to go home with a blonde instead of a red head, a fake blonde that is.

His date, Paula, was insanely boring and he was looking for any excuse in the book to ditch her for the evening. He'd met her at the coffee shop that same day he and Mike talked about him bringing a date and she seemed like a logical choice. Quiet, polite and friendly. What he failed to realize until the ride over to the bar was that she was easily the least interesting person on this planet.

She rejoins him and asks about his classes and as he answers on autopilot he watches his friends. Watches as Mike and Rachel get into a flirty debate near the bar. Watches as they all toast and laugh. Watches as Scottie leaves the group with a man he recognizes from their class shortly after Mike and Rachel excuse themselves and wishes he was taking Donna's hand and leading her onto the dance floor.

He could easily tell his date he wasn't interested, march over to the bar and sweep her off her feet, but then he remembers the last time they saw each other she was pissed at him and he knows he can't simply walk over to her.

His date says something about going to see her friends and he nods, half listening like he'd been doing most of the evening. Mike finds him near the dance floor and offers him a weak smile, pulling him aside so he can hear what Mike has to say over the music.

Screaming over Monster Mash Mike asks where his date went and Harvey only shrugs.

"She wants more you know," Mike says, turning to look Harvey in the eye.

"She's still mad at me."

"Yes, because she thinks you don't."

"How did we get here? Where do we go from here?" He sighs.

"Do you want my advice?" Mike asks, a shit eating grin plastered across his face.

"Not particularly but I have a feeling you're going to give it to me anyways."

"Show her you feel the same way. Remind her what it felt like to be together."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm just saying, you guys can talk about your feelings and sort through this later. Tonight, remind her why she should be with you."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that without talking it through?"

Mike stares down at his own costume before turning towards Paula who is on the dance floor with some friends before his eyes finally settle on Donna, each of them wearing a nearly identical outfit.

"Maybe fate really is on your side tonight. Go get your other Robin, Batman."

.

.

After laughing over the round of drinks Mike provided as an apology for encouraging Harvey to bring a date, Scottie excuses herself to go and dance with a handsome dark haired man named Thomas, who is dressed as a skeleton and Mike and Rachel hit the dance floor leaving Donna to herself at the bar. She spots Harvey standing alone at the edge of the dance floor and tossing back the rest of her drink, she makes her way over to him, a sudden courage coursing through her veins.

"Hey Batman," she calls as she comes up behind him, "Nobody stands in the middle of a dance floor because they want to dance alone."

He turns to face her and their eyes lock for a brief moment before he's tossing his mask back on top of his head and bending down to have his lips meet hers in a sloppy kiss. His hands find their place on her waist as he pulls her closer to him. All at once a familiar but new sensation takes a hold of her body and she lets herself sink into the kiss. She places her hands on his shoulders as he pulls her even closer, her chest now flush against his body as he continues to kiss her. He pulls back all too soon, his eyes still full of lust and he drops his mask back over his face.

"Look, you've been a great date, but I have to go," he whispers, before turning and leaving the bar leaving Donna speechless and confused. Did he think she was his date? Surely after that kiss he had to have known it was her.

He just couldn't bring himself to do this. He wanted to talk to her about all of this, to figure out what they were doing before this went anywhere. So he did the only thing he could think of, he pretended to think she was his date and he ran.

.

.

She leaves the party shortly after her run in with Harvey, no longer in a partying mood. Instead of enjoying the rest of the Halloween party, she decides to head home and throw herself a pity party for royally messing up with Harvey. She assures Rachel she can get home safely on her own and an hour later she's dressed in her pajamas and wrapped up in a blanket watching Bewitched on her couch.

When the doorbell rings she reluctantly slides off the couch and wraps herself in the blanket, assuming Rachel forgot her key and needed to grab something before heading to Mike's for the night.

Instead of finding a drunken Rachel on her porch, she opens the door to find Harvey wearing sweatpants and an old Harvard shirt.

"Harvey, what are you-?" She's about to say 'doing here' when he steps towards her and cuts her off.

"I want something more."


	5. Chapter 5

One chapter left and we've got a ways to go! Thank you for sticking with this story, slowly but surely writing AUs is stealing my heart. As always the greatest thank you to May for beta-ing and being one hell of a hype girl.

Happy Reading - xxS

* * *

**Chapter 5 - French Me, You Idiot**

**.**

**.**

October 31

_Donna's Porch_

"I want something more," he says slightly above a whisper.

"What does that mean?"

"I… I don't know" he admits, the realization that he's just showed up at her place unannounced and requested more hitting him all at once.

"You've been drinking Harvey… maybe we should just have this conversation another time. Maybe you'll know what you mean by _more_."

"I know that I want to be more than your friend," he fires back.

"Harvey…" she sighs, she knew where this conversation was going the moment she opened the door to reveal him standing on the porch but she wasn't sure she was ready to talk about this.

"There's something here, between us. You can't tell me that you don't feel it too. And I know you're worried that this will go south and the last thing I want it to hurt you, because I care about you Donna. I want you to be happy, but I also want to make you happy and I'm pretty sure those two things can go hand in hand."

He pauses as she registers what he's saying, processing her reaction before he continues, "think about it? Okay?"

"Think about _what_, exactly?"

"If you can see us being more," he smiles slightly before stepping towards her and placing a chaste, delicate kiss on her lips.

The kiss is brief and platonic but she feels it in her toes, her entire body subconsciously leaning into it even though it's over as quick as it begins.

"Goodnight Donna," he sighs before turning on his heel and leaving her alone and stunned on her porch.

"Goodnight," she whispers into the empty night air, Harvey already too far gone.

.

.

She heads home for fall break the next morning with a heavy heart. She'd been up for most of the night thinking about what he'd said and she was torn. Part of her knew that he was right, that there was something inevitable between them and denying it was hurting them both. But part of her was resistant to the potential happiness being with him would bring out of fear. Fear of getting hurt. Fear of putting her career in jeopardy. Fear of love and everything that accompanied it.

She'd only ever truly been in love once, and even then she couldn't tell if the infatuation out weighed the love. She was a kid and though her heart raced when she was around her then-boyfriend, it wasn't even a fraction of the way she felt when she was with Harvey.

He made her feel things she never knew she could feel. He made her laugh, he made her smile all the while he drove her crazy.

He was an enigma, Harvey Specter. A riddle she couldn't quite figure out. A fact that both terrified and thrilled her.

But she'd only known Harvey for a few months, was what she felt for him love? Infatuation? Or something in between?

Her mind was a mess of thoughts and she didn't know where to begin sorting through them. Did she want him? Without a doubt. But she was afraid. And she knew fear wasn't a good excuse, but she was afraid and her fear was winning the internal battle that was ongoing in her mind.

Harvey wanted more.

And deep down, she knew that she did too.

But she was afraid. Afraid to risk it all. Afraid to lose it all.

Now she just had to decide if the risk was worth the reward.

.

.

November 7th 

_Library_

It had been over a week since they last spoke. He considered calling her over the break but decided it was best to give her her space.

They set a meeting for the Monday after the break long before the events of Halloween so he showed up at the designated meeting time at their corner in the library and waited.

He was early, and he wasn't even sure she'd show up today but he can't help himself from feeling nervous because he knows if she does show up, she's going to tell him something that will alter the future of their relationship forever.

She strolls in a few minutes after him looking refreshed and relaxed after the break.

"Hey," she smiles as she joins him at their usual table.

"Hey," he greets her, trying his best to remain casual, though he's anything but.

"How was your break?" He adds, smirking to himself when he realizes she's wearing the same white blouse she wore on the day they met. Ironic, but he'd learnt that fate worked in mysterious ways.

"Honestly, it was exactly what I need. Plus it was nice to see my mom," she replies, "how was yours?"

"It was great actually" he says, "Marcus and I checked out a ball game in the city and I got to see my mom teach an art class which was nice."

"Your mom teaches?"

"She does, at the college. She's always been really into art and when Marcus and I moved out she started teaching classes."

"That's incredible. She seems like an amazing person," Donna beams. One of the things she admired most about Harvey was how proud he was of his family. She could listen to him spout on about his mom and brother and never tire of hearing it.

"I think you two would get along," he says, absentmindedly.

"I bet we would," she agrees.

"So, should we get back to working on this project?"

"Yeah, sure," he mumbles, not knowing how to bring up the subject he so desperately wants to start talking about.

They work in silence for a few minutes, each of them falling back into a comfortable rhythm as they jot down notes and flip through textbooks. He watches as she works, something he'd grown accustomed to doing when she wasn't looking, only this time he doesn't bother caring about being caught.

She looks up and catches him watching her and bites down on her lower lip with a flicker of her eyelashes.

"What?" She asks, waiting for him to say what's on his mind.

"Nothing," he mutters, quickly looking away while his cheeks flush.

"You want to know what I think right? About what you said that night, about wanting more."

"If you knew why didn't you-?"

"Bring it up?" She interrupts, "I wasn't sure how to say it."

"Maybe I should go," he suggests, the knot in his stomach growing as he waits for her to tell him what she wants. He rises to his feet and paces alongside the table, ending up with his feet planted beside her seat.

"Harvey," she sighs and his heart drops, his name heavy on her tongue and he knows she isn't going to tell him what he wants to hear.

"It's not that I don't want to, I do. But I'm afraid. I'm afraid that things won't end well and I just don't think I can sacrifice everything I've worked my entire life for, for a relationship that may not work out."

"You're assuming this won't work before we even give it a try…"

"Harvey, it's not like that and you know it. I see the way people look at me when I tell them what I study, when I tell them I'm going to be a lawyer. It's the same thing every single time. The disbelieving looks and the subtle glances that just scream _she'll never make it_. And I can't do anything that may prove them right. I can't fail. Not at this."

"And you won't. Donna, you are one of the smartest, most resilient women I have ever met. Anyone who thinks that this is less than you can handle is less than the kind of person you need in your life anyway."

"Look, I'm attracted to you Harvey, I am. But I can't be in a relationship with you."

"Then don't be in one with me" he smirks, plopping himself on the edge of the desk next to her chair.

"I'm sorry I'm confused? Aren't you the one who said you wanted more?" She stares up at him with wide eyes.

"Look, I've been thinking a lot too. About what I meant when I said I wanted more. Donna, I would love to date you, but I understand that you don't want to take that risk. So what if we can be more without being in a relationship?"

"What do you mean?"

"I want to be more than friends, but if you're not ready for that, I think we can find a happy medium, something that will benefit us both."

"And what exactly did you have in mind Specter?" She smirks and he leans back on his elbows to bring his face closer to hers.

"We make good friends but admit it Paulsen, we had great sex," he winks, leaning in so his eyes level with hers.

"It wasn't bad," she shrugs, knowing full well she spent night after night reliving their evening together.

"I blew your mind."

"Cocky."

"I'm allowed to be seeing as I recall getting you off at least 3 times that night."

She rolls her eyes playfully at his words and he continues before she can respond.

"I'm just saying, we're great friends that had great sex, why not be great friends who _have_ great sex."

He flashes her the Cheshire Cat grin that makes her see stars and forget what her last name is and she closes her eyes for a moment, considering his proposition. She isn't against his suggested idea, in fact, she almost can't believe she hadn't thought of it herself. Friends who had sex.

The sexual attraction between them was undeniable, and she wanted them to be friends, it was something that really could give them both something rather than each of them living with nothing. Plus, she still had her rule. A rule that he told her he would respect and a rule she intended on keeping.

"I'm not looking for a relationship. I mean it, there can be no feelings involved," she rambles, desperate to not let his knee-weakening smile make her forget about her rule this time around. Her rule which stated she wouldn't date someone in her program, she never said she couldn't have a meaningless fling with someone in it. She pushes back from her seat and stands next to him, leaning back against the desk, an action that mirrors his.

"Right, absolutely no feelings," he smirks, stepping towards where she's leaned against the desk and standing between her slightly parted legs, his hands falling to the table on either side of her, breath hot on her exposed neck.

"Just friends who have sex. No strings?" She whispers, her breath hitching in her throat when his lips connect with her lower ear, gently tugging on it.

"No strings, no feelings. Just meaningless casual _great_ sex," he clarifies, watching as she freezes under his ministrations.

"Right" she sighs, daring to bring her hand to rest near his belt.

"Right" he repeats before closing the distance between them with a kiss and propelling her backwards on the desk, his body hovering over hers as they send an assortment of books and pens flying across the floor.

He peers over his shoulder to make sure no one is around before leaning back in and fusing his lips with hers in an all consuming kiss.

She's the first to break the kiss, panting as she whispers in his ear, his body still hovering over hers on the desk.

"Maybe we should move this to somewhere more private?" She suggests and he's pulling her to her feet before she has a chance to even finish her sentence.

He pulls her flush against his chest, his hands finding their place on her hips as she pulls him in for a desperate kiss.

"I'm going to take that as a yes?" He whispers against her lips, holding her closely.

"I think it might be worth a shot," she replies, fumbling as she reaches for the collar of his shirt.

"What do you say we go and finish this meeting at your place?" He suggests.

"Let's" she purrs, taking him by the hand and leading him towards the exit.

.

.

November 11th 

_Ethics Class_

For the third time that lecture, Donna and Harvey were competing to see who could answer Professor Gerrard's questions quicker. Something had changed in the energy about them and it didn't go unnoticed by Scottie. They were at each other's throats in class, constantly competing to get the right answer before the other. They were like two scorned lovers who couldn't rip their clothes off fast enough, passionate and charged and something was most definitely off.

Donna had told Rachel and Scottie about Harvey showing up at her door that night, and she'd also told them that after much consideration the pair decided to remain just friends.

But there was more to it. Donna seemed lighter these days, less stressed. And Harvey, while she didn't see him outside of class always seemed to have a smug grin on his face; a grin that screamed he had a dirty little secret he was keeping hidden from the world.

Something was definitely different between the two of them, and she figured eventually one of them was bound to slip up and tell her what it was. Until then, she watched their spirited debates with a smile, knowing that one day this type of thing would make for great foreplay between her friends (if only she knew how accurate her train of thought was).

Donna smirked as she beat Harvey to answering the third question in a row, puckering her lips as she flashed him a knowing _I'm awesome_ smirk. Things had been going well between them, their new arrangement seemingly going off without a hitch.

After their impromptu makeout session in the library, they found themselves stumbling into Donna's bed where they wasted no time reliving their night after the bar. This time was quicker than the last, more desperate touches and sloppy kisses driving them both to the edge before they could even find a rhythm.

They didn't spend the night together afterwards, deciding they needed to set some ground rules if their arrangement was going to work out.

The first rule they established was there was to be no spending the night. Spending the night lead to pillow talk which lead to sharing feelings and talking about emotions, things they were openly trying to avoid.

After gathering his discarded clothing from around her room, they decided to resume work on their project while they came up with three additional rules including: no telling anyone about their arrangement, no mushy pick up lines or means of flirting to be used during sex and finally, if one of them decided they couldn't keep their romantic feelings in check, they immediately were to call it quits.

It seemed childish, to enforce rules but she knew it would benefit them both in the long run.

It had only been a few days, but so far their deal was working for her. Not only did she feel like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders but now she could shameless flirt with Harvey and not worry about the implications.

Similarly, Harvey was finding himself enjoying the new competitive nature that was brought about their relationship. Something about racing to beat each other was exhilarating. It was like the weirdest form of foreplay he'd ever partaken in, but that was exactly what it felt like, some type of foreplay.

He knew that after class he and Donna had plans to grab coffee and work on their project at his place, only now working on the project at his place meant he got to be with her.

Would he have liked to have been with her emotionally as well as physically? Absolutely. But over the break he had come to terms with the reality of their situation and he'd long since accepted only being with her physically.

And being with Donna, holding her, kissing her, pleasuring her, was even better than he remembered. They had a raw connection that was hard to put into words and being with her made him feel like the planets aligned and the stars were within reach.

It was electric. Magnetic. Earth-shattering.

Class ended and he found himself waiting at the door while she talked to Scottie at her desk.

"Hey man, want to grab a bite to eat?" Mike asks as he passes Harvey.

"I can't. Donna and I have plans to work on our project."

"You two sure have been spending a lot of time on that project," Mike says suggestively.

"Ya well, when we kick your ass in the mock trial, you'll know why."

Donna joins him and Mike at the door and greets Mike with a friendly "hello" before Harvey asks if she's ready and the two of them skid off down the hallway like a pair of excited teens.

The novelty of their new "relationship", if you could call it that, had yet to wear off and both Donna and Harvey were having a hard time keeping their hands to themselves when they were left alone. It felt surreal, to be able to be together in an intimate way whenever they wanted. And to Donna's surprise, they were still managing to get a lot of work done on the project between having their way with each other.

"My place or yours?" He smiles as they reach his car and he opens the passenger side door for her.

"Rachel's home so let's go to yours."

.

.

Donna stumbles into her kitchen around 9pm, her hair still a tangled mess, her lips swollen from her post studying rendezvous with Harvey. She pours herself a glass of water before heading to her room and immediately flopping down on her bed, exhausted.

"Where have you been today?" Rachel calls from her open door, her arms folded across her chest as she eyed her roommate suspiciously.

"I was working on my project, at Harvey's," Donna explains, patting the vacant spot in the bed beside her telling Rachel to join her.

Rachel accepts the invitations and plops herself in Donna's bed with a heavy sigh, Donna's sloppy appearance not going unnoticed by the brunette.

"You've been working on that a lot since Halloween. Aren't things weird between the two of you?"

"Why would they be weird? We're just working on an assignment," Donna replies with her well rehearsed answer.

"I just thought that after everything that happened on Halloween that maybe it would be awkward working together?"

"We're adults Rach. We're both being mature about this. It just wasn't in the cards for us, were both okay with being just friends."

"If you say so…" Rachel replies, still skeptical.

"I do, now tell me about your break and the road trip you and Mike took," Donna smiles, leaning on her friend's shoulder as she launches into a story about her east coast road trip.

.

.

November 13th 

_Law Student Common Room_

"Alright you won yesterday," Harvey smirks as he seats himself on the sofa next to Donna in the common room Harvard reserved for law students.

"I've won all week," she brags, crossing one heel clad foot over the other as she leaned back against the leather seat.

"I thought you said we weren't competing?" he reminds her of their conversation after the first class in which they subconsciously decided to compete to see who could answer more questions correctly.

"That was before I was winning," she winks, angling her body to face his.

"Maybe I let you win," he points out but they both know she'd beat on her own.

"But you didn't," she smirks and he concedes with a smile.

"Have I ever told you that it's incredibly attractive, how smart you are?" he leans over and whispers so only she can hear him. There isn't anyone else in the common room, but something about the way he wants his words to remain for her ears only sends a chill down her spine.

"I thought we weren't doing this whole _flirting_ thing?"

"I mean, I have to flirt with you a little bit, otherwise how would I convince you that we should go and explore that hall closet?" he raises his eyebrows suggestively before getting up and walking in the direction of a large brown door with a supply closet label stuck to the exterior.

"Whattaya say Paulsen, want to try something a little more adventurous?"

"Lock the door," she says, looking him dead in the eye before strolling past him and tugging him after her into the closet.

.

The week passed in a blur and Donna found herself enjoying every aspect of her new "relationship" status. She and Harvey split their time between working on their assignment, and working on getting to know each other's personal likes and dislikes and after a few days they seemed to find a natural rhythm. Sex first, homework later.

She knows it probably isn't the most productive way to get things done, but she's happy and that's all she knows matters.

The flirty remarks seemed to increase as time wore on, and soon she found herself shamelessly flirting with the man who had quickly and easily become her best friend. Yes, they slept together but their study sessions were also still filled with conversations about their childhoods and their hopes for the future.

On Wednesday after class he drove her home because it was raining and they found themselves engaged in a conversation about her estranged relationship with her older sister while sitting in the backseat of his car which was parked a block from her house.

She told him things about her family she'd never told anyone, feelings she never voiced aloud and while she talked, he listened and offered advice while somehow slipping his fingers between her own mid-conversation. They slept together that night, in the back of his car and for the first time since their friends with benefits arrangement, they really took their time pleasuring one another. He walked her to her porch a little after midnight and placed a kiss on her forehead before saying goodnight and turning back towards where the car was parked, waiting until she was safely inside to drive away.

.

When he found her in the library after hours a few days later, she was beyond stressed and reaching up on her toes trying to grab a book that was beyond her reach, even in her red pumps.

He decided to come up behind her and help her grab it before discarding it on a lower shelf and wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. The library had been empty for hours, leaving only the pair to their work so he had no problem pressing himself against her back as he began to kiss his way down her neck.

Spinning around to face him, he catches her lips between his and in an instant he had her pinned against the shelves, her arms over her head.

She spent hours replaying that moment in her head, the way his arms roamed down her body as he hoisted her up by the ass. The way they came undone together. The way his lips felt against hers.

But it was purely a physical attraction. It was just sex. They were just friends that had sex.

Friends who had sex and that loved talking to each other, spending time together.

Maybe she did see them as more than friends, but a deal was a deal and she was just going to have to channel her feelings for Harvey into something else.

.

He knew he was skating a slippery slope. The more he got to have her, the more he wanted her. She was the first person he thought about in the morning and the last person he thought about at night. He knows they made a deal to break things off if the feelings became too much, too real, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her he was falling in love with her.

And he was falling for her, in every aspect of the word. He craved her laughter, wanted to spend every waking hour making her smile and her touch made him feel alive. He was falling for Donna Paulsen, and he was falling hard.

But they were just friends, nothing more and nothing less and if he wanted to keep her in his life, he was going to have to keep his emotions in check.

.

.

November 17th 

_Donna's Apartment_

The week had been hectic so when Donna texted Harvey and requested he come over, he was at the door of her bed pulling off his sweater within the hour.

In the last few weeks, they'd become more comfortable with texting the other when they needed something and their arrangement had become far less awkward and uncertain and more lets get down to business; something that both of them failed to realize was intentional on the other's front, since it was much easier to avoid feelings when things were quick and simple.

Tossing his sweater over his head, he crawls over where's she's laying on her bed and immediately begins to place a trail of kisses along her jawline.

She's wearing a robe that he immediately unties, revealing a black lace bra and matching panties as it falls away.

He eyed her curiously, his pupils expanding with his desire as he takes in her nearly naked body.

"What? I thought maybe you'd enjoy it," She cocks an eyebrow at him as his eyes continue to roam from exposed freckle to freckle.

"Donna Paulsen you are going to be the death of me," he smirks before he begins to kiss between her breasts and down her stomach.

_"Harvey Specter you're going to be the death of me."_

Her own words from their first time resonate in her ears and she panics for a moment. That evening was lustful and passionate and now, they were just scratching an itch, the passion minimized at her request.

"Is Rachel home?" He asks between kisses, working his way down her body.

"No, why?"

"Just wondering how quiet we have to be," he flicks his head up to meet her gaze and smirks, both of them knowing being quiet during sex was something she struggled with.

"So I had an idea on how we should handle that rebuttal, should it come up," She rambles as he places kisses on her inner thighs, an action that causes her to bite down on her lip and toss her head back.

"Should I just tell you later?" She adds.

"Why not tell me now? Your lips aren't busy, go for it," he smirks before gently pushing her panties aside and running his tongue along her folds.

"Are you sure?"

"You're the one who wanted to keep things casual, doesn't get much more casual than this."

He pulls her panties down her legs and falls back into his place between them, his tongue working its magic as she begins to explain her idea.

"We know they have Anderson as a witness, but what if we can use him too?" She begins, doing her best to concentrate while he runs his tongue over her bundle of nerves.

"I mean, it's a long shot but we can call him to the stand, cross exam him and _Haarveyy_," she moans as he inserts a finger.

"You were saying?" He smirks up at her devilishly while adding a second finger and pumping them in and out of her.

"What if we can get him to flip on them? Take... our side... instead?" She manages to mumble in breathy tones as Harvey is now working with both his fingers and his tongue.

He brings her to the edge in a matter of seconds, leaving her to cry out his name with a final flick of his tongue. He crawls up beside her wearing a massive grin, and replies to her prior statement, "I like that strategy a lot, what do you say we see if we can find a way to do it?"

"The textbook is on the side table," she beams, knowing it's her turn to pleasure him as she passes him the book and reaches for his belt.

.

.

November 18th

_Donna's Apartment_

They'd been at it on and off for hours and at some point in the night their casual hooking up has branched into something that felt more like making love. Harvey found himself laying on top of Donna, stroking her hair as he slowly moved in and out of her, enjoying the way she felt around him as they moved.

This was different from the hot and heavy hookups they'd had in the past, this felt far more intimate. He whispers her name as he slowly rocks inside her and she allows her hands to slowly roam across his bare back. He's not sure when it happens but they fall asleep that way, wrapped in each other's arms, a mess of entangled limbs.

.

"Where's Harvey tonight?" Rachel asks as she joins Mike on the couch in his living room.

"At your place I think?" He answers, half listening to Rachel and half watching the last half of the Star Wars movie playing on the screen.

"Shocking," she says sarcastically, dropping her head to Mike's shoulder.

"What are you playing at?" He asks.

"It's just, you don't spend that much time working on your assignment with your partner, either those two are about to blow the rest of the class out of the water or they're using it as an excuse to spend time together."

"I thought they figured their shit out on Halloween," Mike mumbles.

"I thought so too but according to Donna they agreed being friends was better for them."

"What a load of -"

"I know," Rachel interrupts, "sometimes I wonder if maybe they're lying and they've really just been together this whole time."

"Please, you think Harvey could pull that off? He practically leaps in front of Donna so he can carry her over a puddle, if they were together he would be shouting it from the rooftops."

"You have a point," Rachel shrugs, "maybe they really are just spending time together as friends."

"Friends who have it bad for each other," Mike smirks before pulling Rachel into his side.

.

She wakes up when the sun streaming in through her window dances across her face and finds herself wrapped in his arms, his face nuzzled into her neck.

"Harvey," She nudges him awake.

"What?" He replies groggily, stretching as he takes in his surroundings.

"We fell asleep," she explains, wordlessly telling him they broke a rule.

"Oh shit. I'm sorry, I'll go," he jumps up and immediately begins to collect his discarded clothes from around the room.

She immediately misses his warmth and the way her body fit perfectly with his as she watches him get dressed. She knows she said they shouldn't spend the night together but she finds herself wanting nothing more than to spend the morning laying in his embrace.

"See you in class?" He nods as he stands at the door.

"See you," she smiles weakly before dropping her head back into her pillow.

He shuts the door behind him and leans against, taking a moment to gather himself. He left in a hurried panic because he wanted to respect her rules but god did he want to stay and just hold her in his arms.

.

Harvey stumbles into the kitchen wearing the same wrinkled clothes he left the house in the day prior and finds Mike with two cups of coffee in hand.

"You went out early," Mike greets him, pouring sugar into the second coffee mug.

"Yeah, I had some things to do," Harvey mumbles, not in the mood to discuss where he had been all night with Mike.

Harvey is half way out of the kitchen when the sound of Mike's voice stops him, "wait a second, weren't you wearing that yesterday?"

"You pay attention to what I wear everyday?" He fires back.

"Never mind," Mike smirks to himself, brushing past Harvey with his cups of coffee.

Joining Rachel in bed, he hands her a steaming mug with a massive grin.

"What?" She beams up at him.

"I just ran into Harvey."

"And? He lives here?"

"It wasn't that, he just came home," Mike beans with pride, like his son had just done something rebellious for the first time.

"You don't think he was out with Donna all night do you?"

"I mean he isn't seeing Samantha anymore, or that Paula chick."

"Doesn't mean he was with Donna, he could've been anywhere."

"He could have been, but we both know where he would want to be."

.

She's not sure when it happened, when things began to shift between them, but slowly she stopped seeing Harvey as just her friend.

She began to view him as more than a friend when he brought her coffee each morning before class. She started falling for him when he slipped his fingers between hers while they were making love. When she started referring to their hookups as love making.

As time wore on, their hookups became less casual and more meaningful and she wasn't sure how to feel about it. Part of her liked the direction things were headed. But her mind was screaming that this wasn't right, that there were rules for a reason and that she should oblige by them.

She could ace a class without even opening a book but when it came to matters involving Harvey Specter her mind was a hopeless mess.

.

When Rachel returned home later that afternoon she went straight to Donna's room and waited at the door, a knowing grin plastered across her face.

"Hey" Donna says, barely looking up from her laptop.

"Hey. How was your night?" Rachel smirks, studying her friends face.

"Fine? Why?" she answers skeptically.

"No reason," Rachel replies, "what did you get up too?"

"Just studying, like usual. Are you alright? You seem giddy?"

"I'm fine. Just tired is all. I think I'll go shower," Rachel excuses herself and leaves Donna to her thoughts.

She'd been thinking about her evening all day, wondering what it all meant and now here Rachel was asking her about her night. For a moment, she considers that Rachel knows about her arrangement with Harvey, but she quickly dismissed the thought. They'd been careful to keep things quiet, wanting to avoid the questions they themselves did not have an answer to, there was no way Rachel was on to them. At least she hoped she wasn't, she had no idea how to explain to her roommate that she and Harvey were still only friends, friends that sometimes acted like lovers.

.

.

November 19th

_Campus Pub_

"And he's an incredible kisser," Scottie brags before finishing the rest of her wine.

The girls were spending their evening at a small pub downtown, catching up and celebrating Scottie's new official relationship with her dark haired friend from the Halloween party, Thomas.

The place was crowded with students and the three of them found themselves squished into a booth along the far side of the bar. It was a typical pub but Rachel claimed they served the greatest spinach dip, something Donna discovered was true after only a single bite.

She was glad they'd finally found the time for a proper night out, seeing as school had picked up and they were all busy. Despite living with Rachel and having classes with Scottie, she'd missed nights like this with the three of them. An evening where they could talk about anything and everything. She knows she has an older sister, but spending time with Scottie and Rachel like this, she thinks this must be what it feels like to truly have a sister, or sisters.

It had been a while since the three of them had had a proper girls night so tonight the wine and the gossip was flowing freely, as was the laughter. Aside from Scottie's romantic story about her first official date with Thomas in which he took her to a bookstore uptown, the girls shared stories about their week off and how crazy their workload had been since returning to classes.

Scottie spent half of the week in the city with Thomas and the other half visiting her parents while Mike and Rachel took a road trip that provided endless stories, most of which were told at Mike's expense.

Donna remained quiet for most of the evening, listening to her friends tales and laughing along with them, joining in on questioning Scottie about Thomas or teasing Rachel about Mike. It wasn't that she didn't want to share stories about her time at home, she just didn't have any boy stories she could contribute to the majority of the conversations.

"So Thomas is a good kisser huh?" Rachel brings the conversation back to Scottie.

"Excellent," She smiles, her face beaming with pride.

"By far the best kisser I've ever kissed," she adds.

"Do you think we always just assume that the last good kisser we kissed is the best though?" Rachel asks.

"Hmm, I'm not sure because Thomas was my last and most definitely the best. And you're biased because Mike was your last and we both know you're going to say he's your best. Donna? What about you? Was the last person you kissed the best ? Wait, who was the last person you kissed?" Scottie turns towards her friend who answers almost immediately.

"Harv-" She begins but stops herself mid sentence.

"Harvey?" Scottie questions, "That party was practically a month ago, you told us you couldn't go out last week because you had a date?"

"And I did," Donna lies, hoping she can recover from her slip up.

"Guessing it didn't go very well if you didn't kiss him…" Scottie replies.

"He wasn't really my type I guess," Donna mumbles, her eyes falling on the tables surface.

"Right, he wasn't a Specter," Scottie whispers to Rachel and they both giggle at the comment.

"What?"

"Nothing nothing," Rachel lies. She'd suspected something more had been going on between her roommate and Harvey for a while, but Donnas slip of the tongue was the final nail in the coffin and the only reassurance she needed. She wasn't going to say anything though, not until Donna told her on her own.

"Did you guys see the blazer that Katrina girl was wearing today? To die for," Donna changes the subject, fashion being her go to comfort topic.

"We should go shopping," Scottie chimes in, "I need new shoes."

"Count me in," Rachel grins as all three girls slip into a conversation about heels.

.

Three glasses of wine and a tequila shot later and Donna has to cling on to Rachel's arm as she helps her up the porch steps and begins fishing around in her bag for her keys.

"I'm so lucky you moved in with me," she slurs, slumping against the brick wall.

"You're drunk, but you're not wrong. I'm the best thing that's ever happened to you," Rachel snickers as she unlocks the door and leads Donna inside.

She'd never seen her roommate so drunk and drunk Donna was a whole new person. On the cab ride back to their place she told her all about why she felt the Lion King had a stupid ending and she spent a good half hour at the pub telling her how much she admired her relationship with Mike.

"Second best, I think," Donna stutters as she steps out of her heels.

"I'm only second?! Who's first?" Rachel exclaims in mock horror, her friend's vulnerability too precious not to be teased.

"Harvey" Donna admits before she begins to ascend the staircase to her room, Rachel hot on her heels.

"Harvey is the best thing that's ever happened to you?" Rachel pushes, wondering if drunk, free spirited Donna would admit to more than sober Donna.

"Can I tell you a secret? But you have to promise me to never ever tell anyone! Especially not Harvey," she says, tossing her jeans into a pile in the order of her room and slipping beneath her covers wearing her T-shirt.

"Sure, I won't tell a soul," Rachel crosses her had over her chest.

"I love him, Harvey."

"I know," Rachel replies, smoothing our Donna's hair from her place beside the bed.

"But I can't have him."

"Why can't you have him?"

"I made my bed and now I have to lay in it. I made a big deal out of us being friends and I think he's finally okay with it. I can't go back on it now, we can't go back to the way things were before. But it's okay, because I love him and I want him to be happy."

"Have you told him that? Have you told him you love him?"

"How can I tell him when I was the one who was against us being together in the first place?"

"What if he feels the same way?"

"He doesn't."

"You don't know that."

"I do, he doesn't love me like I love him. Because if he did, there's no way we could keep doing this."

"Doing what?" Rachel asks but instead of being met with an answer she's met with a soft snore.

Tucking Donna in, she sees herself out and thinks about everything Donna just told her. She knew there was something extra going on between her roommate and Harvey, but she didn't think Donna loved him, at least not in the serious way she just let on.

.

.

November 23rd

_Harvey's Apartment_

"Harrvveeey," she squeals as he tugs her by the waist into his bedroom.

"You're ticklish," he smirks, tightening his grip on her hips and pulling her closer to him.

"And I've missed you this week," he sighs as he places a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Harvey," she warns, the truth in his words making her swoon.

"I'm not breaking any rules, I'm just stating facts," he replies with a mischievous grin.

"And I missed you this week," he repeats, this time in a whisper.

"I missed you too," she admits, a smile emerging as she leans up on her toes to kiss him.

"We haven't seen each other in almost a week," he points out once she pulls away.

"We're almost done our assignment," she points out, places her palms flat on his chest.

"Doesn't mean we can't still hang out."

"Isn't that what we're doing right now?" She chuckles, giving his lips a quick once over while her tongue juts out to wet her own lower lip.

"Yes, but without our assignment to work on I don't have an excuse to see you everyday, and I like seeing you everyday."

"You'll get sick of me eventually," she teases, his hands traces small circles along her hips slowly driving her insane.

"I doubt that. You fascinate me."

"I fascinate you? Like I'm some kind of creature you'd see in a zoo?" She teases again, this time with a quick raise of her eyebrow and a tilt of her head.

"Yes, that's exactly what I meant Donna. You fascinate me exactly like a kid is fascinated with the tigers at the zoo."

"That is a horrible pick up line," she laughs as a smirk breaks out across his face.

"I'm not supposed to use good ones," he points out with a sarcastic smirk, "so I'm settling."

"I think that's just an excuse since you're horrible at actual pick up lines."

"You're right, I was actually planning on thanking you for that rule," he winks down at her, still holding her in his arms just outside of his bedroom.

"No thanks needed. Anything to help a friend out," she giggles, stepping towards him so that with each breath her chest brushes against his.

"Do you remember that day we met?" He asks in a heavily seductive tone, moving one hand from her waist to caress her cheek.

"You were wearing this skirt," he continues, hooking the thumb of his free hand through one of the belt loops along the side of the pencil skirt.

"You remember what I was wearing the day we met?" She questions, unsure of where he's going with this.

"I remember everything about that day. You don't forget the day a beautiful girl changes your life," he smiles down at her and tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear.

Blushing, she looks down before her eyes flick back to meet his penetrating gaze.

"You think I'm beautiful?" She whispers, her emotions overcoming her. It was suddenly all too much, being held by him while he complimented her. He was telling her everything she wanted to hear and if he hadn't been holding her she's certain her weakened knees would have given out already.

"I do. You are," he whispers, bringing his second hand to her cheek and taking her face in his hands before leaning in to kiss her.

She collapses into him as his lips come crashing down on hers, giving herself to the kiss. It's only when they're both breathless that they part and he rests his forehead against hers. She knows that they began stumbling down his hallway with the intention of reaching his bedroom, but something changed when they paused to have that conversation, something was different about this kiss. It wasn't the kind of lust filled kiss that led to sex. It felt slow and purposeful while remaining tender and passionate, all things that reminded her of their kisses prior to their new arrangement.

"That was your line, wasn't it?" She asks when she realizes what he'd done, her heart dropping when she realizes what he said was only a line; only part of the game they were playing.

"I had to prove that I had some game," he replies, wishing she didn't think he'd only told her she was beautiful because he was playing the part.

He watches as her face falls and he immediately regrets his decision to tell her his compliment was a pick up line, when he knows he was only telling her what he truly thought.

"Oh," she stammers, "Well, we should-" she takes his hand and begins to lead him through his bedroom door when he pulls her back and she crashes into his chest again.

"Donna," he whispers, taking her face in his hands for the second time that evening, "you are so beautiful, " he breathes, his eyes locked on hers, his heart hammering in his chest.

"Harvey, you don't have to-"

"It's not a line Donna. You are one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. And you deserve to know how beautiful you are. I know we made some dumb rules about not flirting with each other, but I'm going to break those for a second because I need you to know that every time you walk into a room you take my breath away."

Her eyes scan his, her pulse racing as he continues to compliment her and she knows he means every word he's saying. When he finishes he renders her speechless and the only response she has is to lean up on her toes and kiss him softly.

He kissed her back, and what starts out as a slow, passionate kiss soon turns lustful and they stumble across the threshold to his bedroom wrapped in each other's arms.

She didn't plan on spending the night but one thing had lead to another and now here she was in Harvey's oversized t-shirt feeling her way down the darkened hallway so she could fetch herself a cup of coffee.

When she couldn't find her skirt from the night before, Harvey reassured her that Mike was spending the night with Rachel and that she was safe to go wearing only his shirt, something she was initially terrified of doing in case Mike came into the kitchen.

Spending the night together was still against their rules, only it seemed to be happening more often than not lately. This would be the third morning they spent together in the last few weeks, but she was enjoying waking up in Harvey's arms too much to say anything about it.

She suspects he also enjoys their morning routine, which typically involved coffee and cuddling (another thing forbidden by the list) or he would have said something. The lines were becoming more and more blurred in her mind but she'd decided to go with it, to chase happiness.

Wandering into the dimly lit kitchen she yawns as she reaches up to retrieve a mug before turning on the coffee pot next to the sink. Leaning back against the counter as she waits for the coffee to drip, she catches two figures out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh god, sorry I didn't think anyone was home," she yelps when she spots Mike and Rachel at the kitchen table.

"Neither did we," Mike snickers, as he gives Donna a once over. Her post-sex hair matted at the back of her head and her legs exposed beneath what he assumes is Harvey's t-shirt.

"So you two are…?"

"No, well kind of, it's not like that…" Donna mumbles, folding her hands over her chest and shifting awkwardly in place.

"Should I wait for you to join me in the shower or?" Harvey calls as he strolls into the kitchen in his boxers absentmindedly, failing to notice a flabbergasted Mike and Rachel staring at the pair with open jaws as Harvey snakes a hand around Donna's waist and begins trailing kisses down her neck.

"Harvey…" she warns, waiting for him to turn around and realize they weren't alone.

"You know what, we were actually just on our way out," Rachel says with a smirk as she grabs Mike's hand and pulls him towards the door.

"See you guys later," she calls as she practically shoves Mike out the front door but not before he has the chance to call a smart ass "Be safe" back at his friends.

"Oh god," she groans, dropping her head into her hands as she takes a seat at the table, "They know."

"What's the big deal? At least now we can stop with the sneaking around" he reasons, taking a seat across from her.

"The big deal is they're going to think we're together,' she explains.

"Well yeah, they just saw us together."

"No, Like _together_ together," she explains with wide eyes.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

They sit in an awkward silence for a moment, neither knowing what to say next. Donna absentmindedly gets up and pours them each a cup of coffee and they end up chit chatting about their plans for the day while they drink.

"I'm going to explain it to Rachel," she adds, referring to their earlier conversation, "she'll understand."

"Okay, yes, good plan."

"Even if she doesn't, were adults and what we do is nobody's business," she nods to herself, needing the reassurance.

"Exactly, this is what we both wanted," he swallows, his words the furthest thing from the truth. This is what she wanted, he still wanted everything with her.

"Is the offer to join you in the shower still valid?" She asks with a shy smile, deflecting his comment because she wasn't sure what she wanted anymore. She was only sure that she wanted him.

"Always."

.

.

When she gets home after class she finds Rachel sitting on the couch waiting for her with a concerned look on her face.

"Hey Rach, how was your day?" Donna greets her nonchalantly.

"Not as good as yours," Rachel smirks up at the red head and waits for Donna to acknowledge what happened that morning.

Donna plops herself on the couch next to her roommate and draws in a deep breath.

"Just ask," she sighs, she'd known this was coming all day and she was ready to rip the bandaid off.

"I don't have any questions," Rachel replies.

"No but that look on your face tells me you have something to say."

Rachel pauses for a moment as she contemplates, trying to choose her words delicately.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"It works for us, he wanted to be something more than friends and there's clearly a sexual spark there so what's the harm in being friends that sleep together?"

So many things, she thinks to herself.

"Don, you told me you loved him."

"No I didn't?"

"You did, when you were drinking. And I can see it written all over your face. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"And I won't. We've talked about this and we have an understanding," Donna explains.

It doesn't go unnoticed by Rachel that Donna doesn't deny her feelings for Harvey, which fuels her next question.

"You two are literally sleeping together, I don't understand why you can't just tell him how you feel?"

"Because Rachel, I was the one that said I didn't want more and this was the compromise. I can't just suddenly tell him I've changed my mind. Not after he keeps jumping through all these hoops for me."

"Ever think there's a reason he's jumping through them?"

"He values our friendship."

"Donna, you and I both know you don't believe that's why. You're afraid."

Donna stares down at her own interlocked fingers, not knowing how to respond to Rachel's statement because it was true. Her fear was paralyzing and it was holding her back. Her mom always told her that the Paulsen women went after what they wanted, but she couldn't bring herself to go after Harvey, she was petrified.

"It's not fair to you or to him for you to hide the way you feel Don. Tell him. Take a chance for God's sake, what's the worst thing that can happen?"

"It could end our friendship."

"A friendship that's hurting you anyways because you want something more. Have some faith, take a chance. Not only on him but on yourself."

"I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask" Rachel smiles.

.

"But you aren't together together?" Mike asks Harvey over beers later that evening. After Rachel forcefully removed him from the kitchen, he shot Harvey a text and they made plans to grab drinks that evening.

"No, were not."

"But you want to be?"

"It's complicated," Harvey mumbles, finishing the contents of his glass.

"Then un-complicate it," Mike manages to say with a straight face.

"That's easier said than done Mike, I told her I wanted more and I could tell we didn't want the same thing."

"What if things have changed?"

"What if they haven't?" Harvey worries aloud. He'd been considering bringing up the way he felt again recently, but the fear of Donna cutting him out of his life prevented him from saying anything.

"I've seen the way she looks at you, she loves you," Mike says.

"How do you know that?"

"Because it's the same way you look at her…"

"I can't do it Mike. I can't be the guy who knowingly tells her how he feels when she's said time and time again she doesn't want more. It isn't fair to keep putting her in that position."

"And what about you? What about what you want?"

"What I want is for her to be happy."

"Even if that doesn't involve you? Why would you want to make yourself miserable?"

"Like you said, I love her," Harvey sighs, avoiding Mike's gaze.

"Then maybe the best thing you can do, for both of your sakes is try and move on."

Harvey pauses to consider what Mike's said before replying with a heavy sigh, "I think you're right. If I don't at least try, no one wins."

"You can't keep torturing yourself. If you aren't going to tell her, you should at least try and put yourself out there, move on."

"Thanks Mike," he pats Mike on the back as he signals for another round of drinks.

"But Harvey, if you think there's even a chance she might want the same things you do, at least tell her before you move on."

"I'll think about it," Harvey promises.

.

.

December 1st

_Campus Coffee Shop_

The first snowfall of the year upon them, Harvey and Donna find themselves seated opposite Mike and Rachel in the campus coffee shop.

Mike and Rachel found the pair cozied up over hot chocolate in a booth near the window and had joined them for the afternoon. An afternoon that was soon filled with laughter as the foursome told stories about their week.

After mulling over his conversation with Mike for nearly a week, Harvey opted not to tell Donna how he felt and to try and move on. While he hadn't yet told her, he even had a tentative date set for the that night with some girl he met while grabbing a coffee. He wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but Mike had a point, he couldn't put his life on pause while he waited for something that was never going to happen.

Donna on the other hand, was falling harder for Harvey with each passing day and she'd decided it was about time she told him how she felt. Initially, she planned on telling him over coffee, but her plan was ruined when Mike and Rachel crashed her "non-date" with Harvey.

Glancing out over the snow covered ground, she smiles to herself, her friends all preoccupied with teasing Mike about his new haircut. While fall was her favourite time of the year, there was something magical about the first snowfall of the year, something that made her believe that a fresh start was a possibility.

"So Mike are you ready to get your ass kicked in the mock trial next week?" Harvey asks his roommate and tosses Donna a smile.

"Please, were going to wipe the floor with you two," he fires back.

"I still can't believe out of all the kids in that class you guys got paired to go against each other," Rachel chimes in.

"I think the professor just wanted to watch us win," Harvey adds with a cocky grin.

"What makes you so sure you'll win?" Mike tosses back.

"We've spent hours working on this," Harvey replies.

"I'm sure you have," Mike snickers as he looks between an equally guilty looking Harvey and Donna.

"Mike," Rachel warns.

"It's okay Rach, were all adults here," Donna interjects, "We're sleeping together and working together, and were still going to kick your sorry ass into next Tuesday Mike."

"It's so on," Mike smirks, "let's see if Harvey's as good in the courtroom as he is in the bedroom."

"My guess is he's going to be better in court than he is in bed, and he's good in bed," Donna winks in Mike's direction which causes Rachel to burst out laughing and Harvey to blush. He knows it's all good fun among friends but Donna's compliment goes straight to his head.

"Oh god, I don't want to hear that," Mike whines, covering his ears like a child.

"That's what you get for bringing it up," Donna remarks, her eyes searching for Harvey's across the table to make sure she didn't cross any lines. When he finally looks up at her, the blushing in his cheeks subsides and he reaches for her hand under the table and gives it a reassuring squeeze.

They spent the entire afternoon making jokes, getting to know each other better and telling stories and something just felt right about it. She knows it wasn't a double date, she and Harvey had just gone out to get coffee at her request when their friends joined them, but it sure felt like one. And the worst part was that she wanted it to feel like one.

Her mind started to wander to what their evenings would be like if they were together. Late night strolls across campus, double dates with their best friends, spending nights in watching movies on the couch. For the first time since she agreed to push her feelings for Harvey aside, she realized she wanted all that. Not only did she want to tell him how she felt, but she wanted to date him. She wanted to do all the cliche things that came with dating someone, holding hands and falling asleep on the phone, she wanted the whole ordeal,and she wanted it with Harvey.

"What are you two up to this evening?" Harvey asks Mike and Rachel.

"We're grabbing dinner downtown, are you still going for drinks with that girl?" Mike asks absentmindedly. Donna and Rachel's heads both immediately snap in Harvey's direction, waiting for an explanation to Mike's statement.

"I think so," Harvey shrugs sheepishly, taking a sudden interest in his empty mug.

"What girl?" Rachel asks, knowing Donna wants to know. After her last conversation with her roommate, she was under the impression that things were progressing well between her and Harvey and that she was finally going to open up to him about the way she was feeling.

"He met some girl at a coffee shop the other day, Zoe? Right?" Mike looks to Harvey who nods, "and she asked him for drinks."

"Well isn't that… progressive," Rachel replies, shooting Mike a death glare for bringing this up even though it's Harvey she wants to strangle.

Donna doesn't say a word about the conversation, her silence loud enough for everyone at the table to understand her position on Harvey's date. Mike makes every effort to change the topic and he eventually succeeds as the group settles in to a conversation about the holidays.

As the early evening settled in and the snow began to dust the ground once again, Mike and Rachel excused themselves leaving Harvey to walk Donna home.

They walk in silence as they wind through the snow covered streets, Donna's hands stuffed into the pockets of her pale blue overcoat, her nose reddened by the crisp winter air. Harvey strolls alongside her wrapped in a cream coloured scarf, the silence eating away at him.

"Did I do something wrong?" He dares to ask.

"No," she answers without looking at him.

"Then why do I feel like I have? Is this about what Mike said? About that girl?"

He knew Donna might be upset about his pending date, but when the young woman named Zoe introduced herself to him over coffee and was confident enough to ask him to dinner, he didn't know what else to say aside from yes. He had just had that conversation with Mike about what to do with his feelings for Donna and he'd decided he couldn't wait forever.

It takes a lot out of him, to force himself to move one but he buried his feelings for Donna one last time and held his head high while he took a chance and agreed to go out with the girl. He deserved to be happy. Even if the happiness he was chasing wasn't a fraction of the happiness he knew being with her would bring.

"I just didn't know you were seeing someone," she remarks, still focused on their destination at the end of the street.

"Because I'm not seeing someone, I agreed to go for dinner" he replies, annoyed.

Something in him snaps at how she isn't even pretending to be happy for him, when all he'd done for months is put her happiness above his own. This date was a good thing for him and she should be happy that he was trying to move on, trying to give her what she wanted.

"Alright."

"We didn't really discuss what happens here," he gestured between them, "but I assumed since we said no feelings that dating other people was fair game."

"It's fair game Harvey. Date whoever you want. Sleep with whoever you want. It's none of my business, right?" She fires at him, the bitterness in her tone fuelling his anger. She was hurt that he hadn't told her, but she was even more upset with herself for waiting so long to tell him how she felt, that she also wanted more. Because now he'd moved on, and she was stuck in the same place, chasing after a man she could have had but pushed away.

"You have no right to be jealous about this," he points out as they reach the foot of her porch.

"I have every right to be jealous here!" She cries, turning around to face him.

"Why? What makes you think you've earned the right to be jealous about me going out with some girl you don't even know?"

"Because I love you, you idiot!"

"Take it back," he mutters, "you don't get to love me! Not after all this time! Not after I pretended I could ignore my feelings for you. And what, now that I've decided to try and move on you suddenly love me? Please tell me how that's fair Donna?"

"I'm sorry," she chokes back a soft sob, "I want you to be happy I really do, and I know the timing sucks but I just needed you to know, I love you."

"Ya well you're right about one thing Donna, your timing sucks," he yells before storming off her porch and into the snow-filled street.


	6. Chapter 6

The bittersweet end of a piece that has stolen a small part of my heart. I never used to read AU's, and definitely had no desire to write one, but it's safe to say, I've found myself enjoying writing them more than anything else and maybe someday I'll attempt to write another.

The biggest thank you to my beta/co-writer/hype girl/motivator without whom I'd be lost and a grammatical mess. (May, you know that you're a rock star)

Thank you for your kind words and support on this one, it really has meant the world.

Happy Reading - xx S

* * *

**Chapter 6: All Rise and Confess Your Feelings**

.

December 1st

_Donna's Apartment_

"Harvey!" She calls after him, trudging through the snow and into the street where the heavy white flakes continue to fall.

"What?" He yells, turning back towards her.

She struts towards him with a purpose and before he can stop himself he's matching her stride until he's standing right in front of her, practically red nose to rosy cheek.

"Tell me you don't feel the same way, and I'll walk away. Tell me this is a mistake and I'll go back inside and we can pretend this never happened," she mutters, flustered by his sudden rejection. He'd made it clear that he wanted her for months and now here he was, walking away when she finally told him she wanted the same thing he'd practically begged her for months ago.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because as furious as I am right now, I need to kiss you."

"Then kiss me?" She suggests, hopefully. She knows she waited too long to tell him. She knows that she was the one that insist they stay friends, that she has no right to be angry with him for moving on, and yet, she feels the need to hold out hope that he still wants her the way she wants him.

"I can't."

"Harvey, what does this mean?" She asks, suddenly unsure of where they stood. He wanted her and she didn't want him. She wanted him and he no longer wanted her. Her head was spinning. It was all too much.

"I need time to process, to think."

"Okay," she nods, swallowing her emotions and respecting what he wanted. It was her fault they were in this goddamn mess; the tangled web of emotion they'd spent months spinning that had suddenly come crashing down, it was all because of her and her stupid rule.

"Okay. Goodnight Donna," Harvey mumbles before sticking his hands in his jacket pockets and walking up the snow-covered street, leaving Donna to stare after him.

She watches as he fights against the fallen snow until he's nothing but a shadow in the distance and she can finally exhale the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

His reaction wasn't what she was hoping for, but she supposed she had it coming. She spent months pushing their friendship on him, and now it looked like she was only telling him how she felt because he was trying to move on. It was far from the truth, but she understood how it looked.

She understood, but that didn't mean she was happy with the outcome. She just wanted to scream and tell him she was wrong, she made a mistake, that they belonged together. But she couldn't. He'd spent months respecting her wishes and she owed him the same, he needed time to process and all she could do was give him time.

Wrapping her arms around herself, she slowly heads back to her house when it dawns on her

that while he didn't tell her he loved her, he also didn't tell her he doesn't. With a semi-hopeful smile, she heads to the kitchen to fetch herself a much needed glass of wine.

She'd made a complete mess of this relationship.

She ended something before it had the chance to begin.

And now, all she could do was wait.

Wait for the man she loved to decide whether or not he would let himself love her back.

.

.

December 2

_Scottie's Apartment_

"I know I said crying over a boy is dumb, but so is he, so you cry," Scottie says as she pats Donna's head as she cries into her shoulder.

"He doesn't deserve you Don," Rachel chimes in, hoping to reassure her roommate.

"Honestly Rach, I don't deserve him. I'm the one that went and messed this whole thing up, all because of my stupid rule", Donna sniffles.

The three girls were having an impromptu girls night at Scottie's in light of Donna's conversation with Harvey the night before. She'd done her best to seem put together nearly the entire night but her third glass of wine hit her harder than expected and suddenly the tears appeared to be never ending.

"It's not your fault Donna," Rachel says, patting Donna's shoulder.

"Besides, we all know he still has feelings for you. Feelings like that don't just go away," she adds.

"Like what?"

"He loves you. He might be hurting but he loves you and in the end, that's all that's going to matter," Scottie reassures her.

Both Rachel and Scottie were shocked when Donna filled them in on what happened the night before. Mike had told Rachel that Harvey was trying to move on but not even in her wildest dreams did Rachel imagine he'd turn Donna down. She understood why he'd done it, he was just as afraid as Donna was and after all Donna had put him through, he was guarding his heart, but the way he looked at her, the way he talked about her made her think he could look past it all.

"What if that isn't enough? What if I really blew it this time? And I lose him?"

"You just have to have faith that it's enough. What you two have, or don't have,"

"But could have," Scottie interjects.

"It's special and you two are the only ones who don't see it. Donna, the way he looks at you, like you're the only woman on the planet let alone the only women in the room makes me want to believe you guys will figure this mess out. He'll come around," Rachel smiles, doing her best to sound optimistic.

"And if he doesn't come around?"

"Then who needs boys anyways" Scottie smiles, squeezing both of her friends hands.

.

.

December 4

_Harvard Library_

Pausing to flip through her debate notes, Donna sighs as she tosses her hair back into a low ponytail. She was supposed to meet Harvey to go over their opening statements for the mock trial over a half hour ago and he was nowhere to be seen.

This is exactly what she'd been worried about, their personal relationship influencing their professional one. She can't help but find it ironic that their lack of a romantic relationship had lead them to the exact place she feared a failed romantic one would.

She's mulling over whether she should leave or not when Harvey strolls in wearing a casual navy sweater and jeans, his expression unreadable. She focuses on her desk, not wanting to be caught staring, while simultaneously desperate to talk to him.

"Hey," he mumbles, sliding into the wooden seat across from her.

"Hey," she smiles, looking over at him with hopeful eyes but his gaze fails to meet hers, instead he pulls out a notebook and gets straight to work.

As the minutes pass the silence begins to eat away at her and it takes everything in her not to ask him outright what's on his mind, where they stand. She promised she would give him time and she knows she needs to be patient and respect him, but it's killing her, the not knowing.

Her mind was a mess of what-ifs and what could have been and as time wears on it weighs heavier on her heart.

"So, should we go over this? I have somewhere to be at five," he says, still looking anywhere but at her.

How the hell did they go from feeling each other up between the stacks to avoiding eye contact.

How did they end up this broken mess of almost?

He had somewhere to be, a vague statement. Maybe he was seeing that girl, Zoe? She hates how the mere thought of him with someone else upsets her. What if he really had moved on, gotten over her? If he could get over this, then so could she.

"Yeah sure," she replies, and they begin rehearsing their opening statement.

They don't talk outside of a few comments on what things should be changed for their assignment, and over the duration of their hour long meeting, Harvey fails to look her in the eye. Once they finish going over their notes, he mumbles an excuse about having to go and sees himself out, leaving Donna alone in the library once again.

His initial silence hadn't worried her, but his failure to look at her, to talk about anything outside of class related material was all the indication she needed. This was over before it even began, and her heart broke all over again as she let the tears began to roll down her face as she packed her bag.

He stops to compose himself as soon as she's out of sight and he's alone outside of the library. Ever since she told him she loved him his world had tilted on its axis and he felt lost, confused. He wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and make her his, but she played with his heart far too much for him to drop everything and run to her.

He loved her, that much he knew, but he wasn't the type of person to drop everything because she suddenly decided she wanted him. Besides, he wasn't convinced that her sudden confession of feelings wasn't jealousy driven and he didn't think jealousy was a strong foundation for a new relationship.

He was hurt. She'd spent so long pushing him away and he let her, and in the end he forced himself to move on. She didn't get to be the one to call all the shots, he was an equal entity in this non-existent relationship and he was sick of not being heard.

Despite his pride being hurt, he cancelled his date with Zoe when he got home that night. Confused heart or not, the minute those three words left her lips he knew he hadn't really moved on and it wouldn't be fair to drag a stranger into this mess. How could he pretend to be into another girl when his heart was already spoken for?

Not talking to Donna, pretending to be unphased by the situation was exhausting and all he wanted to do was go home and drown his sorrows with a beer. He loved her, but at the same time he was furious with her and the only thing he could think to do was to distance himself from the entire situation. His fight-or-flight instinct kicking in and telling him to run, to preserve whatever dignity he had left and forget about what could have been.

.

.

December 5

_Harvey's Apartment_

Cuddled up on the couch, Rachel snuggles further into Mike's side as he begins to doze off while the Christmas movie she insisted they watch plays in the background.

Harvey stumbles into the kitchen to grab a bag of chips before returning to his room without a word and Rachel turns towards Mike wearing a worried expression.

"What?" Mike asks as he smooths down her hair.

"Donna came home in tears yesterday, she said he wouldn't even look at her."

"They met yesterday?"

"Project stuff," Rachel explains briefly.

"That explains why he came home all moody and took a few beers upstairs."

"They hate each other," Rachel pouts, unable to hide how upset she was about the entire situation.

"The opposite of love is indifference, not hate. They're hurting Rachel, give them time to sort it out," Mike reassures her with a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I feel bad for Donna" Rachel adds, dropping her head onto Mike's shoulder.

"I think he did the right thing, trying to move on."

"What?!" Rachel's head snaps in Mike's direction, her cheeks flushed with anger.

"He wasn't going to wait around forever Rach, he deserved to be happy, even if that happiness was from meeting someone new."

"You were the one who told him to move on, weren't you?!"

"If I hadn't told him to move on, she never would have told him how she felt. Look, it sucks that they both have to hurt like this, but sometimes people need to find the wrong person so they can realize the right person is standing right in front of their face. This was what needed to happen, okay?"

Studying Mike's expression, she slowly nods in agreement. He had a point, had Harvey not planned another date, she doubts Donna would have been in a rush to tell him how she felt and they would still be playing the same game they had been for months. At least this way, the cards were on the table and it was up to Harvey to decide if he wanted to fold or go all in.

.

.

December 6

_Louis Litt's Holiday House Party_

She slides into the back seat of Thomas' car and tosses her bag next to her, thanking him for the ride as she did so. Scottie had invited her to tag along to Louis' holiday party and after debating it she decided it might be nice to get out and stop pouting.

Louis was hosting a holiday party for the first year law class and she knew she would regret missing it because she was too busy pouting about some boy she may not even remember ten years down the road, so she did what anyone would do. She put on a sparkly black party dress that fell just below the knee and left nothing to the imagination, coated her eyes in a layer of makeup and polished off her look with a deep red lipstick.

She was out for blood tonight and no man, not even Harvey Specter, was going to get in her way of having a good time.

She was an easy sell on going to the party and Scottie and Rachel knew it, only having to ask once before she caved and agreed to join them on the condition that they would run interference between her and Harvey, should he show up and things get awkward.

Part of her was hopeful that he would show up, see her laughing at some mundane joke in the dress she knew made her desirable and he would suddenly realize he wanted her just as badly as she wanted him. But that was a pipe dream and she wasn't holding out hope, at least she tried to convince herself she wasn't as they drove to the party and she listened to the flirty conversation between Thomas and Scottie.

As nice as it was that Scottie invited her to ride with them, she leaves them to themselves once they're inside, feeling like too much of an unwanted third wheel. She works her way through the house, stopping to say hello to a few kids from her classes and settling on the punch bowl where she pours herself a generous glass.

"You might want to take it easy there," she hears Rachel call from behind her.

"I'm just here to have a good time," she giggles before twirling around and coming face to face with not only Rachel but also Mike and Harvey.

Her eyes lock on Harvey's for a brief moment before he turns his head towards the ground and the sound of Rachel's excited squeal demands her attention.

"You look smokin," she says before letting out a low whistle and taking Donna's hands so she can twirl her around and see the back of her dress.

"Mike, doesn't Donna look hot?" Rachel calls back to Mike who stands there with his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to say.

"I… I don't know how to answer that," he mutters, considering the possibility that this could be a trick question and the wrong answer would land him in the dog house for the rest of the evening.

"You look beautiful," Harvey pipes up, sending all three heads flying in his direction.

"Thanks," she blushes, making a note to kill Rachel for putting her on the spot like this.

"I'm going to go and grab something to eat, Mike?" Harvey asks as he leads Mike away from the girls and towards a table of food.

"What the hell was that?!" Donna scolds as she smacks Rachel on the arm.

"What?" Rachel replies with an innocent shrug.

"You could have given me a warning that he was coming."

"He decided at the last minute. Besides, you're not wearing that dress without hoping he would be here," she smirks, staring down towards the low cut neckline of Donna's dress.

"And you had to make a scene like that?"

"He called you beautiful, didn't he?"

"That doesn't mean anything…" Donna sighs.

"It doesn't mean nothing. Now pour me a drink Paulsen, we're celebrating tonight."

.

He stuffs a pig in a blanket in his mouth and pretends to listen to whatever Mike is saying but all he can focus on is her.

Donna was always beautiful, but the dress she was wearing was something else. It was hugging her body in all the right places while remaining elegant, something he knew only she could manage to pull off. Her hair was straight for once, and he doesn't think he's ever seen her with straight hair but he likes it.

He slipped up when he told her she looked beautiful, a momentary relapse into his former state of mind. A state of mind he was trying to convince himself he was no longer in. If he wanted to keep from getting hurt again, he needed to distance himself from her, he needed to stop thinking about the way it felt to hold her, to be with her.

But most of all, he needed to remember what it felt like to not be in love with Donna Paulsen, and he could only do that by cutting her out of his life. He hated that it had come down to this, the choice between hurting and being hurt.

Tuning back into his conversation with Mike, he promises himself he'll at least try to move on, at least try to protect himself, even if that meant breaking his already broken heart a little more so it could begin to mend.

Donna finds herself engrossed in a conversation with a few kids from her Monday evening class in the kitchen when Harvey strolls in and joins them. Someone named Travis comments on her story about why Manhattan was one of the greatest cities in the world and Harvey jumps in to say he might be biased but Boston was pretty great.

"You've never even been to the city," she replies to him but her response falls on deaf ears and he ignores her statement, despite everyone in the room knowing her comment was directed at him. Instead, he pretends to hear nothing and starts his own conversation with Logan, the student standing next to him, about baseball.

He'd done things that frustrated her to no end over the course of the semester, but being flat-out ignored, and even worse, being ignored in front of a room full of her peers was enough to send her over the edge.

Who did he think he was anyways? Complimenting her only to turn around and pretend she didn't exist. She was growing sick and tired of the game he was playing. Either he wanted her or he didn't, it was as simple as that, and judging by his lack of interest lately, she was wasting her time. Storming out of the kitchen, she makes her towards the stairs and takes a seat, her mind processing information at a mile a minute.

Someone once told her that guys didn't play games when they wanted to be with a girl, and after her last few run-ins with Harvey, she was certain they had nothing left to discuss when it came to their relationship. He'd moved on, wasn't interested and was now just playing some type of twisted game to mess with her feelings, the way she unintentionally messed with his.

"Mind if I join you?" Louis asks, standing in front of her with a toothy grin.

"Not at all Louis," she smiles, patting the space on the step next to her.

"Are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I saw what happened back there, with Harvey."

"Oh that's nothing, just a joke between friends," she tries to play it off with a smile but she knows her true feelings about what happened are plastered across her face.

"I may not know Harvey very well, but I know that any man who is lucky enough to have your heart must be worthy of it, so I hope that whatever is going on between the two of you can be resolved."

"How did you-?"

"Know? Please Donna, I'm not an idiot. Anyone who knows either of you knows there's something there, well apparently everyone except the two of you."

"It doesn't matter anymore, I messed everything up," she confesses, exhaling a deep breath.

"I'm sure that's not true. If he knows what's good for him, he'll forgive you for whatever you did."

"Thanks Louis."

"Someday he'll learn that Donna Paulsen was the best thing that ever happened to him."

.

She spends the rest of the party drowning her sorrows in alcohol and when she feels she can no longer play the third wheel between Rachel and Mike or Scottie and Thomas, she calls herself a cab and heads home. She doesn't see Harvey for the rest of the evening, she's not even sure if he's still at the party or if he took someone home hours ago, but as she climbs into the back seat of the cab, she knows she's made the right decision to leave.

Sure, she could have stayed, flirted with some random guy and fell into bed with him but in the end, she goes home alone because it's better than going home with a stranger and pretending that it's him.

.

.

December 10

_Campus Coffee Shop_

Four days had passed and she hadn't heard a word from Harvey. He even went as far as to cancel their last project meeting and tell her via text that they should just finish up on their own.

Bitter and angry, she tossed her wool winter coat on and headed to the campus coffee shop to drown her sorrows in a peppermint mocha and hopefully finish her part of the project so she could put this entire Harvey chapter behind her and move on.

Move on, the words left a bitter taste in her mouth. How could she move on when she was the one who kept him at arm's length for months. Everything she wanted was right in front of her face and she was blind to it, she willingly choose to neglect it, and now she was learning that karma was a real bitch.

Scribbling down a few words, she let out a frustrated sigh. She was angry at Harvey, angry at herself and overall, she was angry with the world today.

.

After the party, he did his best to avoid Donna. He took the long way home, the way that didn't pass her apartment, he cancelled their project meeting and he avoided spending an excessive amount of time with Mike and Rachel, just in case.

It hurt, not seeing her. But he was hurting and this was his coping mechanism.

When his mom called that morning asking if she could stop by and visit, he was pleasantly surprised. He hadn't seen her since the fall break and was looking forward to showing her around the campus.

They began with the buildings he had classes in and slowly worked their way across the snow-covered campus, pausing every so often so Harvey could tell her a story associated with the place they were in.

It wasn't lost on Lily that a lot of his stories involved someone he wouldn't name, referring to whoever it was as "his friend." Her son had never been very open with his feelings, always the type to guard his heart with an ironclad fence, but she could tell there was something on his mind.

.

Donna finds herself waiting at the end of the counter for her second coffee of the day when the bell hanging above the door chimes and a gust of cold air swoops in, causing her to turn around and glare at whoever decided to open the damn thing.

She's surprised when her eyes meet Harvey's, but she's even more surprised when she realizes he's not alone, there's an older woman standing next to him.

He smiles weakly at her and directs who she assumes is his mother towards the register, where they order two drinks before joining her to wait at the end of the counter.

She does her best to avoid facing them, but she can't help but listen in on their conversation. Her order number is called and she grabs her coffee but before she returns to her table, she stops to ask him a question.

"Harvey, I don't mean to bother you but regarding the closing statements, is that something you want me to do or-?"

"I'll do it," he answers briskly and she takes the hint and returns to her seat with a small nod.

She watches as they retrieve their drinks and settle into a booth on the opposite side of the coffee shop, wishing she was invisible.

"Who was that?" His mom asks as she hangs her scarf over the back of the seat.

"No one," he replies, not daring to meet her gaze.

"You're flushed. If I had to take a guess I would say that's the girl you've spent all day talking about but you've refused to tell me her name."

"I wasn't talking about her…"

"Please Harvey, you're going to have to work on your poker face if you plan on becoming a lawyer because I can tell just by the way you were looking at her that she's the one."

"She's not,_ the one_, she's not anything!"

"But you want her to be?" His mom asks, knowing her son better than he knows himself.

"It's complicated."

"Love always is," she smiles, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Who said anything about love?"

"The way you were talking about that girl today, that spells love."

"Donna, her name is Donna," he tells her quietly.

"She's beautiful, and smart I assume?"

"She's incredible," he muses, stealing a quick glance of her while she studied.

"Well then I hope you and Donna can uncomplicated things, because I'd really like to meet her someday."

"I think you'd really like her."

"I get the feeling I would too."

.

.

December 12

_Harvey's Apartment_

A day before their final project preparation, Harvey finds himself watching the game while having a beer with Mike, something they hadn't done with just the two of them in a while.

He'd been thinking a lot about what his mom said, about what he wanted and he kept arriving at the same conclusion. He wanted to be with Donna for as long as he'd known her, and he was only hurting himself by walking away from what they could be. Yes, she hurt him, and he was bitter about it, but walking away from them was killing him and he'd decided that maybe putting himself out there, one last time was worth the risk.

Because as much as he tried to convince himself he didn't need her, he knew that if he didn't at least try, if they didn't see what this thing between them could amount to, he would live the rest of his life wondering what could have been.

"So, how's the project prep coming?" Mike asks before he takes another swing of his beer.

"It's been slow lately. Things have been… what if I messed up Mike?"

"What do you mean?"

"Common, you know how I feel about her and now I'm the one that's walking away? And for what? To prove some point? What if I'm supposed to give this another chance, what if this is how it's supposed to be? Maybe I should just tell her I feel the same way?"

Mike raises an eyebrow at Harvey in question but Harvey just rolls his eyes, "I know Rachel told you that Donna said she loved me."

"She did, but I wanted to hear you say it."

"And now you have…"

"She's like your kryptonite, why do you keep going back to her?"

"Because I love her, part of me has loved her since the second I laid eyes on her, standing in that hallway dripping wet. She's far more than my kryptonite, she's my everything. She is sunshine and rain and she makes me feel like I can be loved, like I can just be myself and I'm good enough to be loved. I know it doesn't make any sense, the back and forth but maybe it's complicated because it's worth fighting for? Maybe it's terrifying and exhilarating at the same time because that's what love is, a freefall."

"I think you just answered your own question. Tell her that."

.

"Harvey!" he hears her voice echoing in the wind.

"What?"

He watches as she struts towards him purposefully and before he can stop himself he's matching her stride until he's standing right in front of her, his heart racing.

"Tell me you don't feel the same way, and I'll walk away. Tell me this is a mistake and I'll go back inside and we can pretend this never happened."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because as furious as I am right now, I need to kiss you."

"Then kiss me?"

He contemplates it for a moment, he could kiss her and get everything he'd wanted from the moment he met her, or he could turn and walk away and preserve his pride.

"I-"

Words fail him and instinct takes over and the next thing he knows his lips are pressed against hers and he's pulling her into him, everything he wanted to say said without words. He releases her and steps back, studying the curious look in her eye.

"Why?" she whispers, taking a few steps backwards in the direction of her porch.

"What do you mean why? You know I love you Donna," he replies but it's too late, she's gone and he's standing alone in the street, the snow coming down around him, the silence like a sword to the heart.

"Donna… Donna come back… I love you," he calls, running towards her porch but the snow is preventing him from moving any further, his feet slipping in place.

"Come back... I love you," he cries into the wind.

He jolts awake and stares at the clock beside his bed; 3:02am. He needed to tell her he loved her. He needed to tell her before it was too late.

.

.

December 14

_Library_

She's already seated at their usual table in the library when he arrives, two cups of coffee in hand.

She accepts her cup without acknowledging him and he slides into the seat across from her, studying her expressionless face.

He'd woken up with a renewed energy and a new found confidence because today was the day they could finally have everything.

He knows he was childish in trying to cut her out but he had good reason. Only now, things had changed. He knew now that he couldn't live his life wondering what might have happened if he told her he loved her back. He had to put himself out there one last time before moving on, for his own sake. Whether her it was her jealousy that drove her to tell him she loved him or not, he believed she was telling the truth and he no longer cared what the driving force behind her action was.

"Hey," he tries to strike up a conversation but is met with a mumbled "hey," and still no attention from the working redhead.

"Should we go over it once from top to bottom?" She asks coldly.

"Sure, whatever you think we should do," he replies, hoping she'd take his kindness as a peace offering.

"So my mom came by," he tried to start a conversation a second time.

"Don't…" she warns, her eyes finally meeting his as she draws in a breath, "Don't do that."

"Don't do what?"

"Try and act like everything is alright between us when it's not."

Over the past few weeks, she'd grown tired of being ignored, being treated like a second choice. She understands that he had every right to be angry with her for what she did but he didn't have the right to start treating her like a total stranger.

If he didn't want to be with her he could tell her instead of leaving her in limbo and pretending she meant nothing to him, instead of treating her like she was nothing.

She'd decided that all of this was too much for her. The push and pull and the almosts, it was distracting her from her studies, the very thing she'd been adamant about prioritizing in the first place. After this project was over tomorrow, she needed to distance herself from Harvey and everything that he represented if she ever wanted a chance to start again.

"You don't think I know things have been weird between us?" He challenges, his voice rising above his usual library whisper.

"I- look Donna I don't know how to make things go back to the way they were, but I love-"

"Please, don't finish that sentence," she interrupts him, getting out of her seat and pacing a few steps away from the table.

He stares at her skeptically, trying to read her. He thought she would be happy to hear him say it back, those three little words that would tell her everything she needed to know. But instead of looking happy, she looked angry and annoyed.

"Donna I thought you needed to know that I love you too."

"Just stop!" She cries, flailing her arms over her head in fluster.

"Why? I thought that's what you wanted to hear, I thought you wanted this, us."

"I thought I did too…" she whispers, a tear escaping her left eye and rolling down her reddened cheek.

"But?"

"But we can't keep doing this Harvey! I can't be a fool again!"

"A fool? Why would I ever want to make you feel like a fool?"

"Because you love me, until you don't!" She cries, her voice breaking.

She pushes past him and excuses herself, leaving her belongs with him at the library. None of this makes any sense, and her entire world had become a tangled mess. She loved him, but she was angry with him. He claimed he loved her, but until when? Until he opened his eyes and realized he loved her out of obligation? Or until his own anger towards her outweighed the love and they were back at square one.

She sends Rachel a text and asks her to grab her stuff from Harvey later, knowing she doesn't have the strength to face him again. Their mock trial was going to have to be tried without a final run through but she was confident they'd spent so much time on it that it didn't need one anyways.

This was not how she pictured her day going when she woke up that morning. And yet, here she was once again crying over a man that was never hers to cry over.

He stays in his seat staring straight ahead at where was she once standing, dumbfounded. This was what she'd wanted, wasn't it? Had he really been so awful to her over the past few weeks that now she could hardly look at him?

Of all the questions whirling around in his mind, there was one that he just couldn't understand the answer too.

They loved each other, why couldn't they just be together?

.

.

December 15

_Mock Trial Day_

She shows up just in time for class to begin, her cream coloured blazer catching his eye the minute she stepped foot in the classroom. He tried to call her the night before, he even stopped by her house to deliver her stuff but Rachel claimed she wasn't home.

"Ready?" He asks as she claims the seat beside him.

"Let's get this over with," she replies, staring straight ahead.

"Donna, can we talk later?"

"There's nothing left to say, once this is over, we can go our separate ways."

"Alright class," Professor Gerard claps his hands demanding everyone's attention, "let's begin, shall we?"

"Today's defense will be presented by Mr. Specter and Ms. Paulsen, and they will be facing off against Mr. Ross and Ms. Pearson. Mr. Ross, you can begin with your opening statement," he instructs as he takes a seat in the middle of the room in his "judges" chair.

Mike gets up and makes his opening statement, regarding how his client had every right to fire Harvey's, who was being portrayed by Donna. Though both partners were responsible for acting as a lawyer in the trial, one member from each team had been instructed to serve as the client, if clients should be called to the stand. Mike makes an excellent opening argument but Donna knows that if all went according to plan, they'd have this thing won within seconds of it beginning.

After Harvey delivers their opening statement, Mike throws a curve ball their way and calls Donna to the stand. She freezes upon hearing her name, turning towards where Scottie was seated in the row behind her with panic-filled eyes.

She reluctantly takes the stand and finally turns her gaze to Harvey's, his eyes flooded with an equal amount of panic she begins to feel rising in her chest, they hadn't prepared for something like this. He signals for her to take a deep breath, and she obliges as Mike approaches the bench.

"Mrs. Adams, you were my clients immediate supervisor, is that correct?"

"Yes," Donna bobs her head.

"And you two got along, outside the office?"

"I'd like to think so," Donna replies, unsure of where Mike is going with this line of questioning.

"Was my client a good employee?" he asks, pacing in front of the table where Harvey is seated.

"I wouldn't say she was a bad one."

"That's not what I asked," Mike objects, "Was she a good employee?"

"Yes."

"Then why was she suddenly fired last month without cause?"

"I can't speak to that…"

"Why not? Is this not your signature on the dismissal slip?"

She squints at the form he's holding up and spots what she assumes is supposed to be her signature along the bottom. She turns to Harvey who nods, telling her to go with it, so she does, assuming he has some type of plan.

He didn't have a plan or a strategy that would help them win this case, but he did have an idea. Granted, it was a crazy idea, but it just might be crazy enough to be impactful.

"Mrs. Adams, let me ask you this. If you and my client were such good friends, why did you sign her dismal slip without talking to her first?" Mike asks, his blue eyes locking on Donna's for a moment and she falters.

She takes a moment to think about her answer, his words resonating in her mind, hitting her harder than intended. It wasn't a loaded question, that she knows, but something about it sends her into a spiral. She trying to compartmentalize, to separate her personal life from her professional one but the line has become a blur in the distance and she's in freefall.

Nothing about the question Mike asked should remind her of her relationship with Harvey. Yet, all she hears is "If you're such good friends, why did you walk away? Why are you trying to walk away?"

"Ms. Paulsen, Mr. Ross asked you a question," the professor interjects with a stern tone.

"Right, sorry. Can you repeat the question?" she blushes, doing her best to avoid the penetrating gaze Harvey is throwing in her direction.

"If you were such good friends with my client, why did you sign her dismal slip without talking to her first? Doesn't having a conversation about how that would affect your relationship seem like something you should have done?"

"Just because it seems like something that should have been done, doesn't mean it would have been easy to do," she replies almost instinctively.

"Do you care to elaborate?"

"Just because I decided I didn't want to have a conversation about the outcome of a decision that was not mine to make, does not mean I don't value the friendship," she responds, her answer only slightly answering the question being asked but her answer sparks Harvey's attention.

"Why wasn't it your decision to make?"

_Because when I told him I loved him, he didn't want me._

"Objection!" Harvey jumps in, trying to save his partner from Mike's badgering that was clearly upsetting her.

"I'll allow it," Professor Gerrard comments, far to entertained by the scene unfolding before him.

"Why wasn't it your decision?" Mike repeats hesitantly, he's not sure why Donna seems to be falling apart on the stand, seeing as she was playing a fictional client. Unless she was an incredibly talented actress, he had no idea what the hell was going on here but he did know he wanted no part in it.

"Because, relationships are a two way street. One person doesn't have to final say, it's a compromise," she nearly whispers, her eyes flooded with tears when finally looks up at Mike.

She was breaking, he could see it and he knows that she's no longer playing a role. They'd moved from playing a lawyer and his client to playing Donna and Harvey, and Donna and Harvey so happened to be his favourite story.

"No further questions your honour," Mike mumbles, inwardly cursing himself for making Donna cry.

"Mr. Specter, do you care to cross examine?"

Donna had assumed Harvey would steer them back towards their initial strategy, and had already begun to make her way back to her seat when she hears him request to cross examine her. That ass. He could clearly see she was going through something unrelated to their assignment, why would he purposely keep her in the spotlight?

Wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes, she retakes the stand and does her best to force a smile. She spots Mike and Scottie both staring at her with worried expressions and she takes a deep breath to steady herself. She could do this. She was going to sit on this stand and pretend to be Mrs. Adams or whatever the hell the client she was supposed to be playing's name was and she would not break.

He would not break her on this stand. He may have broken her heart, but she fears she broke his first and though she has no idea what his intentions are, she knows they need to walk out of this room as whole entity, not broken fragments of two people who were almost in love.

She'll never quite understand what had led her to fall so hard for him. A grown up women should never fall so easily and yet she'd long since fallen victim to Harvey Specter's charm. She was still hopelessly in love with him, and as angry as she was with him for treating her like she was nothing, she wanted so desperately to be his everything.

He steps around the table and clears his throat to begin his line of questioning and she holds her breath. She knows him well enough to know that he knew her answers to Mike's questions had been about their relationship, but what she doesn't know is whether he's about to redirect the conversation to the assigned topic, or if he was going to ask her about them.

She's angry and she's hurt but above all else, she's confused.

"Mrs. Adams," he begins, taking a few steps towards her but not daring to face her. "If you valued your relationship with Mr. Ross' client so much, why did you push her away?"

"I wouldn't say I pushed her away…" Donna replies, starring over at where Harvey is facing the class, confused.

"But you did place a limitation on your relationship by keeping her out of the loop. What made you decide to do that, to place that limitation I mean?"

"I did it to protect myself," she admits and he slowly turns around to face her.

"At the cost of your friend?"

"I suppose you could say that."

"If this person had heard about the potential firing and approached you with a solution on how to improve their performance, something that would benefit the both of you, would you have considered it?"

"I don't see why not…" she replies, still unsure of where he was going with this. He was supposed to be defending her as a client, not poking the open wound.

"Let's say the client had done exactly that, come up with a solution that benefited you both…"

Her heart drops when the word benefit leave his lips and she knows, he's asking about them.

"And everything is working out great, but then the client receives an offer for a promotion; but you're friends so you don't want them to leave, would you go back on that deal?"

"I don't see how this is at all relevant to this case?" Mike interjects from behind Harvey, now clued in to the fact that his roommate and his, well he wasn't sure what exactly Donna was to him, were having it out in the middle of the classroom.

"Mr. Specter, do you have a relevant point?" the professor asks.

"Yes sir. If you can't answer that, then riddle me this, You're the one that wanted to have a personal relationship,

_With me._

You're the one that laid the ground rules since you were Mr. Ross' client's superior,

_You made it clear that we were just friends,_

and you were the one who went back on your promise to not cross personal and professional boundaries.

_When you told me you loved me._

Now his client is here trying to make things right, you're suddenly not interested in the relationship you two built?"

_I told you how I felt and suddenly it's like you'd never said those three words to me, like you never cared about me._

"That's not true," she whispers, her heart caught in her throat.

"Then why don't you want to give this a try when I'm standing here willing to?" he whispers back, stopping inches away from where she's seated, the charade shattered. Client and lawyer or Harvey and Donna, the conversation they'd been avoiding was now inevtiarble and it was going to be difficult regardless. They forget where they are for a moment, and suddenly it's just the two of them sitting back at their table in the library, avoiding the hard truths.

"It's not that simple," she says, her eyes finding his in a silent plea to let this go, to let her go.

"Why? You love me and I love you, that seems simple."

"Harvey, you've been ignoring me for weeks…"

"I told you I needed some time."

"And I gave it to you, but, do you know how hard it was for me to feel like I was nothing to you? Like I am nothing to you? I want to feel wanted Harvey! Is that so much to ask? Is it so hard for you to show me that you want me? And not just my body but all of it. Every little fucked up part of me. I just want… to be wanted… by you. And maybe that's a lot to ask, because I know I'm far from perfect, but I thought maybe you were the one person who saw the real me. Who saw all my baggage and all my flaws and still somehow wanted to love me, to let me in. I thought that maybe you were different… that maybe…"

"I do," he cuts her off, "Love you."

He's standing directly in front of where she's seated now, the truth in his words evident from the look on his face. He loved every inch of Donna Paulsen, and then some. She sighs as she tries to tell herself not to overthink this, because overthinking is what got them into this mess in the first place.

A smile slowly settles across her face as he leans over the desk, his face growing dangerously close to hers as his eyes study her softened expression.

"Please tell him you love him so we can get back to kicking your asses!" Mike calls from behind them, breaking their moment and causing them both to laugh.

"I love you too," she whispers, his hand falling over hers on the desk.

"If you two are done proclaiming your love for one another, can we please get back to the assignment?" Professor Gerard interrupts causing the entire class to giggle.

Embarrassed to have just let their months worth of pent up emotions be on full display in front of their entire class, the pair eagerly scamper back to their seats and prepare to resume the trial. They steal a few glances of one another as the rest of the case plays out, blushing whenever they catch the other. At one point during Jessica's delivery of the opposition's closing statement, Harvey reaches for Donna's hand and squeezes it beneath the table.

Once class ends, Scottie makes her way over to where Donna is seated and is about to ask her what the hell just happened when Harvey returns after handing in their report and greets both women with a soft "hey."

"I'll just talk to you later," Scottie smirks before excusing herself and leaving her friends to themselves.

"So you said before that you wanted to talk after class?" she smirks, hopping up on the desk and swinging her feet.

"So now you're open to talking?" he teases, standing across from her.

"I did kind of just tell our entire class that I loved you, I figured what's one more difficult conversation for the day," she laughs before the silence sets in between them.

"I'm sorry," they both say at the same time.

"You start," he says.

"I'm sorry I told you I loved you when I was the one who said there should be no feelings involved. I put you in a tough spot and I'm sorry."

"Please, don't ever be sorry for loving me," he grins, reaching over to squeeze her hand again.

"I'm sorry too you know. I was a dick that night that you told me."

"You had reason to be, I played with your heart," she says.

"I treated you unfairly," he points out and they both draw in a deep breath.

"What do you say we try this again?" he suggests.

"Try what again?"

"This. Us. Let's just start over."

"We can't just start over, it doesn't work that way," she smirks, his ridiculous suggestion something so uniquely Harvey she can't help but smile.

"It'll be simple, watch," he explains as he steps towards her with his hand extended. "Hi, I'm Harvey Specter, first year."

"Donna Pauslen," she giggles, placing her palm in his for a lingering handshake.

"You know something, Donna Paulsen, I think I might be in love with you," he grins, his hands settling her her waist, his legs finding a place between hers.

"Hmm that's a good thing because I am so terribly in love with you, Harvey Specter," she grins into the kiss he has waiting for her, her hands settling in his hair as he holds her in his arms.

"What do you say we get out of here and you let me take you on a real date?"

"A real date huh?"

"Isn't that what people do when they're in a relationship?"

"Is this you asking me to be your girlfriend? Because if it is…"

He cuts her off with a kiss and she immediately forgets where she was going with her sentence, high on the taste of him.

"I guess I could be persuaded to let you take me on a date, seeing as I think we're dating."

"We can stroll through downtown and pick a place?"

"I'm pretty sure it's snowing…"

"Perfect!" he exclaims, his hands tracing small circles against her back where his palms are firmly pressed.

"We'll get all wet!"

"I was feeling pretty sentimental about that day we met, if you play your cards right Pauslen, I'll give you my jacket."

.

.

December 17

_Downtown Boston_

A few days after deciding to give their relationship a real shot, Donna finds herself seated next to Rachel at an Italian restaurant downtown, with Mike and Harvey across from them.

The foursome had ventured out into the snow with the intention of going ice skating but had ended up grabbing dinner instead. Things between her and Harvey and settled into a natural rhythm, and in a weird sense, it was like nothing had changed, only everything had changed.

Their conversations continued to be filled with flirtatious remarks and banter and she found it amusing that their current situation hardly differed from that day in the coffee shop.

She and Harvey just worked. They could effortlessly finish each other's sentences, communicate without speaking and connected on a level that was new to both of them.

After their first official date, Harvey walked Donna home and ever the gentleman tried to kiss her goodnight and head home, only to be informed by her that since they'd already slept together numerous times, typical first date etiquette did not apply.

They'd spent every night together since then, enjoying waking up in the other's arms with no complications, no fear of crossing a line and no limitations. They were free to love and be loved and it was everything she hoped it would be.

It helped that their roommates were so supportive of their new relationship, Rachel immediately called Donna after Mike returned home from class and filled her in one what happened and was over the moon to hear they had worked things out.

She smiles as she watches Rachel laugh at something her boyfriend says about Mike. Her boyfriend, the word sounded foreign in her mouth. When she first started school, she told herself nothing would get in the way of her studies, and boy had she been wrong. Meeting Harvey had literally turned her world upside down but she wouldn't change a thing if it meant they would end up where they were now - happy.

"Don, can you pass me the salt?" Rachel interrupts her daydream.

"Yeah sure," she smiles, passing her friend the container.

"You know what else we should do with that salt later? Tequila shots," Mike grins and Harvey winks at Donna, the memory of the last time they drank tequila together always playing at the back of his mind.

"Easy Mike, Donna can't be held responsible for what happens when she drinks tequila," he teases.

She's about to make a witty remark about tequila's track record when it came to falling into bed with him but they're interrupted by a snow covered Scottie and Thomas stumbling into the restaurant.

They wave the pair over and they slide into the booth, helping themselves to drinks from the pitcher in the center of the table.

"Well, now that the gangs all here, Happy Holidays you guys!" Mike toasts as he raises his glass and clinks it against Harvey's.

"Here's to a new semester filled with straight A's and confessions of love," he wags his eyebrows at Harvey who smacks his arm.

"To one kick ass semester that I'll never forget," Harvey toasts, clinking his glass against Donna's with a small wink.

.

.

December 17

_Donna's Apartment_

After being dropped off at Donna and Rachel's apartment, all three girls find themselves spread out on the couches, wine glasses in hand.

"I'd like to propose a toast" Rachel smiles as she raises her glass of Rosé, "to us, who knew law school would bring such incredible friends."

"And to Donna, who finally managed to lock her man down."

"You're ridiculous," she rolls her eyes at Scottie but still raises her glass nonetheless.

"So," Scottie turns towards Donna with a devilish smirk, "is relationship sex better than the friends with benefits kind?

"You two are ridiculous, you know that?" Donna protests, tossing her hands up with an exasperated sigh.

"We'll take that as a yes," Rachel cackles, Donna's blushing cheeks what she was aiming for.

"That's it, next semester I'm finding myself new friends!" Donna teases, taking a sip of her wine and smiling to herself. It was much better.

.

.

December 21

_Harvey's Apartment_

"Come home for Christmas with me," he mumbles into her pillow.

"What?"

"Come home for Christmas with me," he states again, raising his head from the pillow. They'd been tangled up in her bed sheets struggling to get out of bed all morning, and despite knowing she needed to pack to head home for the winter break, she couldn't bring herself to leave the bed.

He'd been lying awake staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours but he'd been trying to work up the courage to ask her to come home with him.

He knows their relationship is new, but he can't stand the idea of not seeing her for two weeks and he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. Besides, they'd been together a lot longer than a few weeks, they'd practically been together for months.

"We've only been dating for like a week and you want me to go home with you?"

"Well, yeah," he shrugs, placing a kiss on her exposed shoulder.

"Harvey I can't, your family will be there," she says.

"And they'll love you!"

"You don't know that, they could hate me…"

"Please, my mom hardly met you and she's already in love with you," he states absentmindedly, his hand teasing it's way across her bar back, tracing gentle patterns that occasionally make her giggle.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you sort've already met her in the coffee shop that day, remember?"

"Oh god, I didn't even say hello, she's going to think I'm so rude!" She panics, burying her face deeper into his bare chest.

"She doesn't think you're rude, if anything she thinks I'm rude for not introducing you, especially because she could tell I was into you."

"She could not?!"

"She could, she even told me that I should tell you how I felt because you seemed like something special."

"She wasn't wrong," he adds, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Have you told her? That we're together now?"

"Who do you think asked me to invite you over for the holidays?" He smirks, knowing he's just helped to calm her nerves.

"Alright, I'll go but on one condition," she propositions, "you have to take me to your brothers restaurant."

"You've got yourself a deal Paulsen."

"And I can't stay for the entire break, or my mom will kill me. But I'll call her later and see if she's willing to pick me up a few days later, alright?"

"Alright," he beams. It's been over a week and he can hardly process the fact that the beautiful naked girl in his arms is his girlfriend. Telling Donna how he felt, what he wanted, despite telling her in an unconventional, and slightly unprofessional way was the greatest decision he'd ever made.

Yes, they had a rocky start, but he'd do it all over again if it meant they'd end up here. This past week had been blissful. Between the late night cuddling and the early morning sex to the spirited debates and conversations about nothing, he knew that what they had was special.

He almost can't believe they wasted so much time pretending they weren't this, when this was something else entirely. He'd never known love to be so instinctual, so raw and electric. It shook him to his core how large his capacity to love another person was, because he'd never met anyone he captured his attention for long enough to find out.

He'd finally met his match in Donna. She captivated him, fascinated him, challenged him and pushed him to be a better version of himself and he had to remember to thank whatever gods were responsible for the rain and her lack of an umbrella on the very first day of classes.

His mom always said that fate had a funny way of making things work out, and growing up he never understood what she meant, until now. Maybe it was fate they met that day, or maybe it was dumb luck or a happy accident or any of those stereotypical cliches, but he wanted to believe that had they not met that day, they'd have met the one after. Because he's positive that he was meant to end up with Donna Paulsen. And whether they'd met five weeks ago or five years ago, he's certain that they were supposed to find each other.

"What do you say we get this day started with a shower?" He asks, climbing out from under the covers and exposing his bare butt to her.

"Don't mind if I do," she smirks, following him down the hall and to the bathroom.

.

.

December 22

_Lily's House_

She was pacing again, her heels cracking against the tile in his hallway as she waited for him to finish packing.

After they'd finally stumbled out of bed and started their day, she called her mom and asked if she could be picked up a few days later because her new boyfriend, Harvey, wanted her to stay for a few days.

Her mom, being as enthusiastic as she was, was over the moon to hear about Donna's new relationship status and was quick to agree which sent Donna into a whole new type of spiral; the nervous kind that came with meeting Harvey's family.

He was so proud of his mom and his brother and she was terrified that after the heartbreak she put him through, they would resent her. She wasn't sure how much he'd told them about their prior relationship but she was a bundle of nerves as she waited for Harvey.

"You're going to wear a hole in the floor," he smirks, leaning against the wall at the entrance of the hall, watching as she paced in her heeled booties.

"Don't make fun of me! I pace when I'm nervous!" She says with a flustered cry.

"You're cute when your nervous," he chuckles, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"My nerves are not a laughing matter!" She swats at his arms that encompass her waist.

"Donna, relax. They're going to love you almost as much as I do," he says before pressing a kiss to her temple and releasing his hold on her in pursuit of finding his coat.

"You're such a sap," she teases, smoothing out her top.

"And you're beautiful," he winks, buttoning up his wool coat.

"A sap and a kiss ass, my boyfriend ladies and gentlemen," she mocks, following his lead and putting her own jacket on.

"Ready to go?"

"As I'll ever be," she replies, tossing her duffel bag over her shoulder and following him out to the car.

She's quiet for most of the car ride to his mothers, listening to Carol of the Bells as it's sounds fill Harvey's car. He places a steadying hand on her knee and smiles over at her, doing his best to keep her calm.

"You didn't tell them about… you know… everything?" She asks sheepishly.

"I told them that I met a girl named Donna, and she stole my heart."

"That's all?"

"That's all," he reassures her.

.

Taking both of their duffle bags, he leads her up the driveway towards a large red brick house decorated with white Christmas lights and an assortment of evergreen wreaths. She trails after him, nervously fiddling with her thumbs as he rings the doorbell. An older woman opens the door and immediately pulls Harvey in for a hug, peering over his shoulder at her.

"Harvey," she cries as she releases her grip on him, "and this must be Donna?"

"Mom, this is Donna, Donna, this is Lily," he introduces them and Donna extends her hand but Lily pulls her into a hug.

"It's so nice to finally meet you," she beams down at Donna, "Harvey told us a lot about you."

"You too," she smiles, stepping into the hall and peering around his childhood home.

"Thank you for having me," she adds as she steps out of her coat and passes it to Harvey.

"Please, Harvey's never brought a girl home before," Marcus calls from behind her and Harvey blushes.

"Marcus," he greets, pulling his brother in for a brief side hug.

"And you must be the beautiful Donna," he greets her, pulling her in for a hug before she can say anything.

They spend the afternoon with his family, telling stories and drinking hot chocolate. Harvey's mom pulls out some old photo albums and shows Donna a few pictures of Harvey as a child, causing him to complain and pout. He was right about her hitting it off with his mother and by the time dinner rolls around, she can't remember why she was ever nervous.

They settle into his old room after dinner and she teases him about the model trains and comic books that line the shelves before he silences her laughter with a far from PG kiss and carries her back towards his bed.

"I have something for you," he smiles as he hovers over her, struggling to catch his breath.

"So forward," she teases, pawing at the waistband of his pants.

"Not that," he laughs, climbing off and her marching towards his bag.

"I know we said no Christmas gifts but I couldn't get you nothing," he explains as he passes her a small gift bag.

She sits up and accepts it, tearing through the tissue paper eagerly. A smirk creeps across her face when she removes the contents of the bag and turns it over.

"You made me a mixed tape?" she giggles, his ridiculous romantic gesture a result of their pillow talk a few days before where she told him that she wished romance was like it appeared in the movies. When he told her he felt like their relationship was like that, she replied with "Ya but you don't make me mixed tapes," and they both laughed.

"So our romance can be as good as the kind you see in the movies," he grins, joining her on the bed.

"That is insanely sweet, thank you," she says, leaning in to kiss him.

"You do know I have nothing to play this on, right?"

"That's why there's a cassette player waiting for you downstairs," he replies and she smiles, he really always thought of everything.

"I got you something too," she says, gesturing for him to pass her the bag beside him. She digs through it before finding the wrapped package at the bottom and passing it to him.

He opens it and pulls out the jacket he gave her on the first day of class and he laughs.

"You're giving me back my own jacket?"

"Not exactly. I mean, that is your jacket but I did have it altered slightly, check the left sleeve."

He does as he's told and runs his thumb over the stitching spelling out his initials on the sleeve cuff.

"Donna…"

"That first night we spent together, you told me that when you finally make it as a lawyer, you'd have your own fancy lawyer shirts and a big glass office. Well, you're one semester closer to making it, so now you're one step closer to owning all those fancy lawyer shirts."

"I'm starting to think this is my lucky jacket."

"That jacket introduced us, I've always known it was your lucky jacket," she smirks, pulling him in by the collar for a kiss.

* * *

Stay tuned for the Epilogue.


	7. Chapter 7

**Epilogue: Friendship, Love and Law Degrees**

.

.

Harvard

_Class of 2017 Graduation Day_

"Slow down! How do you move so fast in those shoes?" he calls after her, holding his cap down with one hand, his robe being pulled back by the wind.

"Keep up!" she calls over her shoulder, "We're going to be late!"

"There you two are! They've been calling your names for like, ten minutes," Scottie greets them from her place in a lineup of students in long black robes and square caps.

"Sorry, we got… distracted," Donna smirks and Harvey can't hide the proud smile on his face.

"I swear you'd think you two had been dating for four months not almost four years," Scottie teases, "But your dress is cute," she gives Donna a once over and admires the cream coloured fitted dress she's wearing. It's barely visible beneath her gown but she smiles when she spots the necklace Harvey gave Donna for their first anniversary sitting just above where the scoop neck met her skin. She and Rachel had helped Donna get ready for that dinner date for hours, helping her find the perfect dress and the perfect shoes, chatting about how they couldn't believe it had already been a full year. When Donna returned home the next day, the three of them fawned over the necklace Harvey had given her, and a day hadn't gone by since that the stone didn't grace Donna's neck.

"Paulsen," a professor calls from behind them in line, "Get in line, it's alphabetical."

"That's your cue, I'll see you after?" he turns and smiles down at Donna.

"If you're lucky," she flirts before leaning up on her toes and giving him a short kiss before shoving him in the right direction and moving to her place in line.

.

.

Making her way through the packed courtyard after the ceremony, she keeps her eyes peeled for friendly faces. She'd lost Scottie once they were instructed to line up and in the sea of graduates and overly excited parents she was having a hard time finding her friends. She spots the brunette leaning against a stone pillar in the courtyard and immediately runs to her, throwing her arms around her in a massive hug.

"Rachel Zane, you look incredible! That city of yours must be some place!" Donna beams, holding Rachel's arms out as she examined her former roommate. She was dressed in a modest grey pencil skirt and a pink blouse and had her long brown hair pinned back behind her shoulders in a classy elegant way that screamed _successful lawyer._

"Says you! That dress is incredible!" Rachel compliments, twirling Donna around so she can appreciate her outfit.

"Rachel!" Scottie squeals as she comes up behind Donna, pulling the brunette in for a hug.

"How's Seattle?

"Windy, rainy, lacking you two, but the position is great so I can't complain," she replies.

"I can't believe you've been an associate a whole year," Scottie muses, fiddling with the tassel on her cap.

"That will be you two soon enough!"

"We really did it, didn't we?" Scottie asks, looking between her smiling friends.

"Couldn't have done it without you two," Donna grins, pulling them both in for a group hug.

"Promise me this, no matter where we end up, we'll stay in touch."

"Here we go…" Rachel and Scottie whine in unison.

"What?"

"Donna, we're moving to different states, not different countries," Scottie explains, with a slight laugh. She and Rachel had a bet that Donna would become sentimental before the ceremony let out, and sure enough, she was the first one to crack and start reminiscing.

"Besides, Chicago, New York and Seattle aren't even that far," Rachel chimes in, "and you know Mike is going to want to come and visit both Harvey and Thomas."

"You two better come and visit us," Donna pouts, refusing to let go of her hold on both of their shoulders.

"And miss out on you and Harvey living together? We wouldn't dare," Scottie teases. She and Thomas had been living together for the past year in Boston and had already signed a lease on a place in Chicago, where they both had secured positions at an up and coming law firm. Donna and Harvey on the other hand, would be moving to New York to work as associates at firm called Pearson Hardman. Unlike their friends, she and Harvey decided not to live together in their final year, seeing as Harvey still had Mike and once Rachel moved out Donna found herself enjoying having her own place; even if Harvey had technically spent practically every night with her. She was excited to be heading back to the city, and she'd heard nothing but wonderful things about Pearson Hardman, things were looking up and her future - their future - was looking bright.

Mike would often spend the weekends visiting Rachel in Seattle, the city he would soon be joining her in, so he and Harvey would try and sneak in a boys night during the week, leaving Donna and Scottie to enjoy much needed girls nights. The past few years seemed to fly by and with each passing semester, Harvey and Donna's relationship strengthened. She had no doubt he would make an excellent roommate once they settled in Manhattan.

She spots her mom in the crowd and waves her over to where they were standing, the proud grin on her mom's face making her insides swell.

"Congratulations sweetheart," she says as she places a kiss on her cheek, "You as well Scottie."

"Thank you Ms. Paulsen," Scottie smiles.

"What do you girls say I take a quick picture?"

The three of them are quick to agree and they rearrange themselves in a line as Donna's mom fishes her camera out of her bag.

"On three…" she instructs as she focuses on the three girls.

"One… Two… Say 'Harvard Graduates!'"

.

.

"Who would've thought, we actually made it," Mike chuckles to himself as he joins Harvey on the far side of the courtyard.

"Me, I always had faith. You, I had my doubts," Harvey ribs him and is met with a sharp protesting "Hey!"

The sound of her laughter catches his attention and he turns and spots Donna, Scottie and Rachel posing for photos across the path. He smiles as he watches her, naturally working the camera in a way only she could. He can't believe that by this time next month they would be living together in Manhattan, starting a life together. It was equal parts terrifying and thrilling and he can't believe there was a time in his life when he couldn't be interested enough in a woman to take her on multiple dates. Here he was with Donna, ready to start a life, to spend the rest of his life by her side.

He subconsciously grazes his hand over his jacket pocket while watching his girlfriend with a massive grin.

"Good luck tonight," Mike smiles, peering down at where Harvey is nervously fiddling with the edge of his jacket.

"Good luck?"

"Common Harvey," Mike shrugs towards the bulge in his jacket pocket.

"It's time to go get her, for good this time."

"Who knew you had one more pep talk in you?" Harvey teases him, grateful to have made such a great friend in Mike these past few years.

"For you two crazy kids, I'll always have a pep talk in me," Mike says.

"Seriously Harvey, I'm happy for you guys."

"She hasn't said yes yet…"

"Do you have any doubts that she won't?"

He didn't. He had never been more certain of anything in his life. The past four years had been extraordinary and with each passing day, he fell for her smile a little harder, her laugh a little deeper and she had his heart indefinitely.

.

.

After sending both of their mothers off to the restaurant they'd reserved to celebrate, they find themselves alone on a bench just outside the courtyard, taking a moment to take it all in.

She leans on his shoulder, her cap long gone and her long red curls falling over his shoulder. He takes her hand in his as they look out over the still semi-crowded courtyard, breathing her in.

"So this is it," she sighs, squeezing his palm.

"This is just the beginning," he says, sliding off the wooden bench and extending a hand to her.

She takes it skeptically before scanning his face to try and get a read on him. After four years she was a professional when it came to reading him, but this time she wasn't quite sure what he was up to. Her eyes scan his, and for as many times as she gazed into his honey brown eyes, she would never tire of the way they melted when met with hers.

"Where are we going?" She smirks as she follows after him in the direction of the library.

"It's a surprise!" He calls over his shoulder, making sure she's following even though he's leading her by the arm.

"We're going to be late for dinner," she reminds him, her smile growing.

"We'll be quick, I promise," he says with a quick squeeze of her palm before he picks up her pace and tugs her into the large brownstone standing before them.

She follows silently and without question while he leads her through the halls of the older building, walls lined with photos of old professors she didn't recognize, the aged floor creaking every so often. When he reaches the end of the hall, he pauses to flash her a quick smile before pushing through an exit door that led them directly into another building, a building that was much more familiar to her.

"Harvey, what are we doing here?" She asks as he continues to lead her down a hallway she knew all too well. He pauses outside of their old classroom and draws in a deep breath, taking both of her hands in his. She watches as his heart begins to race and looks around the halls of the place where they first met. In four years nothing had changed. Not the portraits on the walls or the old wooden floorboards that groaned when you crossed them. It was like they had stepped into four years ago, when she had run into Harvey while soaking wet and he offered her his jacket. The only difference, instead of two strangers standing across from one another in the hall, they stood beside each other as lovers in robes that indicated their time here had passed.

He had a grand plan, he would take her to the place he first met her and deliver a heartfelt speech about why he loved her, why he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Only now, looking at her in her long black gown, her long red curls framing her face, hazel eyes locked on his, he can't remember a single thing he wanted to say.

He spent weeks planning out his speech. He would take her hands in his and get down on one knee while telling her.

_"Donna Paulsen, when I first met you four years ago, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be lucky enough to get to fall in love with you. But here we are, four years later. You're my best friend. You're my compass. You're my everything. And if I had known all those years ago when I gave a pretty girl my jacket, I would be back to ask that girl to marry me, I might have used a smoother pick up line," and she would laugh through her tears while he rummaged through his pocket for the little blue box he'd picked out._

_Her eyes would light up when she spotted it, because she was always going on about the ring she wanted as a little girl. A ring that came in a little blue box with a tiny white ribbon. He would open it as he continued his speech, telling her she was the love of his life, and he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life trying to keep up with her._

_And naturally, she would say yes before he slipped the ring on her finger and she fell into his arms._

Only, in this moment, with the beautiful redhead that was once a stranger staring up at him with adoring eyes, he can't remember any of that.

"Donna...I…"

He tried to find the right words but it's suddenly all too much. How do you ask your soulmate to spend the rest of her life with you in the perfect way? Suddenly, what he had planned to say didn't seem like enough, and he was left standing in the hall, her hands in his, floundering.

"What I mean is… will… will you…" he stutters, staring down at the ground between them.

"Yes," she gushes, tears forming in her eyes as he returns his gaze to her face from her heels.

"Yes," she cries again before launching herself into his arms and connecting her lips with his.

"You didn't even let me ask," he chuckles as he breaks the kiss, his arms wrapped around her waist, holding her against his chest. Of course she'd known what he was going to say, she was Donna. If he'd learned anything in their time together, it was that surprising her was a rarity, and in this moment, he's never been more grateful for her ability to read him.

"Oh," she mumbles, her cheeks flushing with a soft shade of pink. She was slightly embarrassed to have cut him off, but she didn't need a big fancy speech. All she needed was Harvey. Her Harvey. Forever.

"Donna Roberta Paulsen," he begins again, keeping his hold on her, the tears now steadily rolling down her cheeks, her smile as wide as a mile. He contemplates launching into his well rehearsed speech, telling her all the reasons he loved her, but decides that she already knows. All it took was one look at the girl in his arms, his girl, for him to know he didn't need some grand gesture that would be forgotten years down the road, he only needed her.

"Will you marry me?" he whispers as he lets his nose come to rest against hers.

"Yes," she whispers back before closing the distance between them and kissing him again. He squeezes her waist and lifts her off the ground, twirling her around while never allowing his lips to leave hers.

He holds in her in his arms, her heels hanging above the floor as he deepens the kiss. He was drunk on the taste of her, his _fiancée_, the only women who had ever managed to make him feel the way Donna made him feel. Alive, wanted, appreciated, like he was enough. She made him want to be a better man, she pushed him to be the best version of himself and he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life making her laugh, making her proud and making her feel as loved as she made him feel.

When they finally part to catch their breath, he places her back down, helping her to find her footing in her heels before placing one more lingering kiss on her forehead. He reaches into his pocket and retrieves the little blue box he'd carried around for the last month, watching as she gasped, her hands flying to her face when she noticed it.

He opens it, revealing the ring she'd spent one evening last July describing to him as the ring she'd always wanted as a little girl. He takes her hand and slides it onto her shaking finger as she watches him with adoring eyes.

If she could freeze one moment in time, this would be the one. The way his eyes light up as he watches her reaction to the ring. The way his smile expands as he slides the ring onto her left hand. The way he can't help himself from watching with a beaming grin as she examines her left hand, breathless. Everything about this moment is perfect. Because it's them and the way they love each other is unparalleled. From the moment the met, standing in this very spot, she knew he was something special, and every day for the past four years, she learned she was right.

The Harvey Specter she met four years ago was an enigma. He was a riddle she couldn't quite figure out, but that she was desperate to solve. The Harvey Specter she just agreed to marry taught her what it felt like to be loved, what it felt like to be in love. He taught her that love meant spending Sunday mornings doing nothing but sitting in opposite corners of the room, reading silently in the company of each other. That being together didn't mean going out to do something together, it meant cleaning the kitchen together, screaming the lyrics to an old Beatles song while driving down an old country road hand in hand with the windows of the car down. He taught her that love was simpler than she once thought it was. It wasn't present in grand gestures or proclamations but rather threaded through the small details that made up their life together. Above all else, he showed her that love was worth fighting for.

Looking back on their story, she wouldn't change a thing about it. Not the heartache, not the push and pull and certainly not the pain. Because it taught her that something like what they had was worth fighting for, and it served as a constant reminder that what they had was special.

"I love you," she sighs before leaning upwards to place a kiss on his lips.

"I think I've loved you since you first stole my jacket," he replies with a coi grin.

"I didn't steal it, you offered it to me," she clarifies with a small huff.

"Oh right, you stole my heart," he smirks, stealing another kiss.

"Is this how corny you're going to be now that we're engaged?" she teases, placing her palms against his chest as she chuckles.

"Depends," he quirks his eyebrow.

"On?"

"Whether or not my _wife_ will tolerate it."

.

.

New York, 2017

_Moving Day_

She's neck deep in a pile of folded sweaters as she sits on the wool area rug in the center of the mostly empty living room of their brand new Manhattan apartment. She looks around at the stacks of boxes from her place on the floor and smiles to herself. The apartment was everything she'd dreamed her first apartment would be. It had an open-space kitchen, granite counter tops that matched the white cabinets and a living room complete with a massive fireplace and a large wall sized window with a perfect view of Central Park.

It was far beyond either of their budgets but the managing partner at the firm that hired them, Jessica Pearson, had given them each a massive signing bonus they decided to use for the down payment. Harvey had given her free rein to decorate however she pleased and she spent hours with Rachel and Scottie picking out colours and throw pillows to create the perfect atmosphere. Everything had come together splendidly and their first night as roommates was perfect. They settled on a blanket in front of the fire with a pizza and a bottle of wine and toasted to their new life, before falling asleep in each other's arms in front of the fire.

She hears the door open while she folds another sweater to be placed in their closet, and turns to find Harvey standing at the entrance to the living room with a stack of letters.

"Still unpacking?"

"Someone has to do it," she teases as she gets up and plops herself onto their brand new sofa.

"Let me help you," he offers, crossing the room and joining her on the couch.

"But first," he smiles softly, passing her an envelope that had her name on it, watching as the realization of what it was washed over her.

She peers down at the identical envelope in his lap before speaking, "Are these-?"

"You ready?" he asks, reaching for his envelope.

"Wait," she reaches out to stop him. She shifts on the couch and pulls her legs up beneath her, her knee falling over his lap as she does so. As much as he always appreciated how she looked when she was dressed up, he much preferred this version of her; hair tossed in a messy ponytail, casual pants and a baggy sweater. Just Donna. Just the way he loved her.

"What if one of us didn't pass?" she asks nervously.

"Then I guess we'll have to leave all this stuff in boxes, pack up and find a cheaper place," he mocks, looking around at the chaotic mess of boxes littered about the living room.

"Harvey! I'm being serious!" she whines, shifting nervously in her seat, "Our job offers depend on what's in this letter, what if one of us-"

"Hey, look at me," he interrupts, lifting her chin with his index finger so her worrying eyes meet his.

"Nothing in this envelope is going to change anything," he reassures her, taking her hand in his and gently squeezing her palm. He can't help but smile when his hand comes into contact with the ring on her left finger, still unable to believe that a woman as amazing as Donna had agreed to marry him.

"Have faith in yourself, like I have faith in you," he adds with a soft smile.

She nods and draws in a deep breath, turning the envelope over in her hand and studying the letters that painted her name across the front. She was holding her fate in one hand and the love of her life in the other, and with a second squeeze of her palm, he made her fate seem less daunting, like everything would be alright.

"Ready?" he asks, gesturing towards the letters.

"On three?" she asks and is met with a slow nod as he released her hand and clutched his own envelope.

"One… Two...Three," they count down together before frantically tearing the packages open and skimming down the front page of the letter inside.

He quickly skims down his own letter, a wave a relief washing over him when he sees his result before he quickly looks up to study her expression. His eyes meet hers in a panic and a small smile settles across her face when he nods in response to her unasked question. He tilts his head in response, waiting for her to answer the same question. He's met with an enthusiastic kiss as she launches herself into his arms and tosses her hands around his neck.

"We're going to be lawyers!" she squeals, falling into his lap with a giggle.

.

.

New York City, 2021

_Pearson Hardman _

"Mrs. Paulsen, do you mind taking a look at these?" a young blonde asks as she passes Donna a stack of file folders.

"Sure, put them on my desk and I'll try to get to it before I leave," she instructs, not looking up from her computer screen.

"Sorry to bother you, _Mrs. Paulsen_, but when do you think that will be? The heading home, I mean?" his voice cuts through her office and she pulls her gaze away from her screen to greet him with a smile.

"That depends," she smirks, getting up and rounding her desk to meet him. He eyes the tight maroon dress she's wearing, the neckline showing off the freckles along her collarbone and falling just below her knee. Tasteful, yet stunning. He grins to himself, recalling how he kissed each of her freckles that morning, the novelty of getting to love her something he relished in every day.

"On?" he smirks as she reaches for his tie, straightening it before letting her hands settle on his chest.

She leans forward and whispers in his ear, her statement making his eyes widen, a devilish smirk developing on his lips.

"Mrs. Paulsen-Specter, this is a place of business!" he pretends to be offended by her words but the sudden strain in his pants tell her that her words had their desired effect.

She grins at his use of her full last name. Though she had legally changed her last name to Paulsen-Specter, it often was shortened at the office and she loved the way his last name trailing hers sounded. It never sounded complete without the "Specter" attached to it.

"Then I think it's time you take me home for the night," she purrs, stepping away from him to grab her purse and jacket.

"What about those files?" he asks, eyeing the massive stack on her desk.

"They'll still be there tomorrow, right now I just want to go home with my husband," she smiles, looping her arm through his and following him out towards the lobby. They had been working at the firm for four years, been married for three and she never tired of leaving the office together and returning to their penthouse apartment where they shared stories about their day and laughed about whatever crazy thing Mike had been up to.

While Mike and Rachel were enjoying Seattle, both had decided to take a step back from corporate law, whereas both she and Harvey had been drawn to it. Something about the hustle and quick pace it involved fascinated her and she found herself excited to go into the office each morning. She had no doubt that this was what she was meant to do, what they were meant to do and all it took was a little bit of hard work to get here.

"What do you say we go out and celebrate before we head home? Somewhere fancy? What about that Del Posto place you keep mentioning you want to try?"

"We don't have to…"

"Donna, you just made partner, we're celebrating. Besides, I already made a reservation," he boasts proudly as they wait for the elevator.

She peers over at him in surprise, and he flashes her a toothy grin in response, "What? You're not the only one who can pull off a surprise."

"And you're kind of like the boss of me now," he smirks, allowing his hand to wrap around her waist and settle on her hip.

"Not for long, you're going to be the next partner."

"But until then…" he whispers just above her ear.

"Oh my god, you're turned on by this, aren't you?"

"Well…" he shrugs sheepishly, he wasn't about to apologize for being turned on by what a bad ass his wife was. He was proud of everything she'd accomplished over the years and beyond proud of how hardworking and dedicated she was to her career.

"You're an idiot," she laughs as she playfully smacks his chest.

"I'm your idiot," he corrects her before leaning down to steal a kiss. Office PDA was something they actively tried to avoid, but tonight they were celebrating and that warranted an exception to the rule.

The elevator dings and they step on while Donna is rendered speechless, something that rarely happened. Harvey peers over at her with a self satisfied smirk, peering out at the silver lettering that read Pearson Hardman that lined the lobby walls as the elevator doors begin to slide shut. One day those walls would read Paulsen Specter, and they would have all of Manhattan at their feet. Just the two of them, on top of the world, or at least their little corner of Manhattan.

.

.

Harvard

_Ten Year Reunion _

"Gordon, I mean it no running!" she calls after the spirited redhead that was sprinting across the lawn in front of them.

"But Mom! Amelia is running!"

"Listen to your mother," Harvey scolds, slipping his hand through Donna's as they followed their two kids across the Harvard courtyard towards the large white tents that were set up in the center.

"Edith!" both kids call as they take off towards a young brunette standing beneath a 'Class of 2017' sign.

"Be careful!" Donna yells after them, her words fading as she realizes they're no longer paying attention to her but rather focused on giving their "Uncle Mike" hugs.

"Gosh, has anyone ever told you you're hot when you yell?" he whispers into her ear before nibbling gently on her ear lobe and placing a kiss on her neck, his arm finding its place across her shoulders.

"I guess nothing really changes around here, does it?" she hears Scottie call from behind them and turns around to find her brunette best friend staring at them with a mischievous grin.

"I thought you guys were still in Paris?" she smiles, stepping out of Harvey's embrace, moving to pull Scottie into a hug.

"And miss this? We wouldn't dare," Scottie beams as she steps back and examines Donna.

"Thomas," Donna greets him before pulling him into a hug, leaving Harvey to follow her lead and welcome Scottie with a hug.

"You guys look incredible, Europe must be agreeing with you," Donna says as steps back towards Harvey.

"Us, look at you two. All loved up still like those crazy kids who couldn't keep their hands off each other," Scottie replies as Harvey slips his fingers between Donna's.

"And the kids?"

"Over with Edith," Donna answers, gesturing towards where the kids were playing in the grass.

"They're getting so big! How old are they now?"

"Amelia just turned 6 and Gordon will be 4 next month," Harvey replies proudly, watching as Amelia helps her brother with the game the kids were playing. Amelia was a spitting image of her mother, right down to the flaming locks and the big personality, while Gordon was a perfect mix of his parents, having Harvey's drive and Donna's determination.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is that Dana Scott fresh from the other side of the world?"

"Rach!" Scottie squeals before pulling the brunette in for a hug.

"I've missed you guys," Scottie says, roping Donna back in for a group hug.

"We've missed you little miss globe trotter! How was the summer in Greece?"

"Incredible, remind me to tell you about Santorini," she smirks before the sound of Mike clearing his throat interrupts their girl talk.

"I hate to interrupt but seeing as your loving husbands have volunteered to babysit your children for the night so you ladies can have a 'girls' night' might I suggest telling that story later when there are less prying ears," he says, looking down towards where his daughter Edith was tugging at his jacket.

"Right, sorry," Scottie blushes. She and Thomas didn't have any kids as they were too busy galavanting across Europe and she wasn't quite used to having them around, even if she had babysat for both of her friends when she was in the city.

Mike answers Edith's question and she runs back over to play with Gordon and Amelia, leaving the six adults to catch up over a few beers. Mike and Rachel had moved to Manhattan just before their daughter, Edith, was born and spent most weekends with the Paulsen-Specter's, so the majority of the afternoon was spent learning about what Thomas and Scottie had been up to and mingling with old classmates. Though Rachel wasn't part of their graduating class, she spent most of her time with Donna and Scottie and knew their peers almost better than she knew her own and the afternoon was filled with old memories and laughter.

Donna and Rachel filled Scottie in about their jobs in the city and how the kids were doing while Harvey, Mike and Thomas chatted about sports over a few beers and everything felt like it did ten years prior. No matter how far apart the six of them found themselves, it always felt like no time had passed when they got back together.

At some point in the afternoon, Donna finds herself in a conversation with her former classmate, Louis, and Scottie about the London theatre. She laughs at something Louis says and catches a glimpse of her husband and Mike playing with their kids across the courtyard, laughing as they pass a ball between them and a smile settles on her face.

She always knew Harvey would make an amazing father and day in and day out he proved her right, reading their kids bedtime stories, spending Saturdays with them at the park and taking them in to work with him where he would always let them play lawyer. She never thought she could fall further in love with him but the day she watched him hold their daughter for the first time, she fell a little bit harder.

"He's so good with them," Scottie says as she follows Donna's gaze across the yard towards where Harvey was teaching his son how to throw a ball.

"He really is," Donna muses, watching her little family with adoring eyes.

"You two really got it all didn't you?"

"What do you mean?" Donna asks, turning to face her friend.

"Common Donna, you two have the most epic love story I've ever heard."

"How is it any different than what you two have?"

"Look at the life you two have created for yourselves…" Scottie grins at Donna, "two big shot lawyers from the city and their two adorable kids. You two were practically kids when you fell in love and look at you know, conquering the world together. You know, it's funny, he still looks at you the same way he did back then."

"So does Thomas," Donna points out, watching as Thomas stole yet another glance of his wife from his place across the yard.

"But Thomas always had me, we were never friends before we dated, at least not like you two were. I'm very lucky because he has been incredible, our adventures our greater than anything I ever would have imagined for myself, but it's different. We began in a relationship, he was supposed to look at me _that_ way. But Harvey, he was staring at you with those adoring eyes long before you two got together, and I guess it's just nice to see that he still is."

"I think a part of me always loved him, even if I claimed I didn't," Donna admits, thinking back on all those times she tried to convince herself that they were nothing more than friends.

"Can I let you in on a little secret?" Scottie asks and Donna nods.

"You two were the last to know you were in love."

"What?"

"It was clear as this bright blue sky that you two were head over heels for each other, and you were the only ones who couldn't see it. Hell, even Professor Gerrard knew it!"

"He did not!" Donna chuckles to hide the blush that had crept into her cheeks.

"Don't believe me? We can always go ask him, I'm pretty sure I saw him near the barbecue."

"I'll take your word for it," Donna laughs as Rachel wanders over and joins them.

"What are we laughing about?" She asks as she jumps into the conversation.

"We were just talking about how lucky we got," Scottie informs her as all three women turn towards their husbands who are now engaged in a rather intense game of Monkey-In-The-Middle with the children.

"You would never know they're all successful lawyers," Rachel laughs as she watches Mike dive away from the ball which sends Edith into a giggle fit.

"Well," Donna says raising her wine glass, "to us. Almost fifteen years of friendship, love, and law degrees."

.

.

As the sun begins to fade and the summer sky is painted in hues of marmalade and orange, Donna finds herself wandering across the campus grounds, reminiscing. The kids were playing a game with Thomas and Scottie and she was taking a moment to herself to take it all in.

This was the place that helped make her into the woman she had become, both professionally and personally, and being here, she was feeling sentimental.

As she wanders across campus, she lets her feet lead the way, her mind swimming with visions from a lifetime ago. The girls nights spent at the campus pub. The hangovers she nursed in the library while attempting to push through and study. Exams that left her frazzled, mock trials that led her to become a better lawyer. Every little piece of who she had become had been built using this place as a foundation. She grew up on this campus. She found herself, fell in love and discovered the type of young professional she wanted to be.

It was within the confines of these grounds that she blossomed. She continues across campus until she finds herself in a place that she held close to her heart. The start of her love story, the start of her marriage, and ultimately, the place where her happily ever after began.

She peers around at the empty halls, memories from what felt like a lifetime ago flooding her mind. It appeared as though nothing had changed. The oak walls remained untouched and the floor still creaked beneath the old photograph of Professor Mavious. It was as though time stood still in this hallway. That every memory made here over the past decade had been preserved, placed away in a time capsule that eagerly awaited it's opening. Standing here, in the place where they met, it felt like nothing had changed, only, everything had changed.

Glancing at the worn sign labelling the women's room she smiles to herself, thinking back to the panic she felt on that first day of class. She'd been so young and eager to make a good first impression. If only she could go back and tell herself what she knew now, she would have walked into that classroom with her head held high and never given her dampened shirt a second thought. But she was grateful that she hadn't or she might not ever have gotten to know Harvey. Her young dirty blonde knight in shining armour who stood two feet from where she was currently standing and changed her life.

_"Harvey," he reaches out to shake her hand, "Harvey Specter."_

_"Well thank you, Harvey Specter, I truly appreciate it."_

_"For a pretty girl like you, always."_

They'd gone through so much since that day in the hallway. They graduated, got jobs, got married, started a family. And with each passing day she fell a little more in love with Harvey and the man he had become. He was that same kid who approached her with a one liner about his jacket in the campus bar.

_"Excuse me ma'am, you haven't borrowed any suits jackets lately have you?"_

Only, he was passionate, determined and dedicated to both his career and their family in a way that pushed her to want to be the best version of herself.

She pulls her arms to her chest as her mind takes her back to that afternoon in this hallway when he asked her to marry him and she smiles softly. If you would have told her ten years ago she would be standing in an old hallway, reliving some of the greatest moments of her life, she never would have believed it. Yet, here she was, so caught up in her past she doesn't hear the footsteps behind her.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Specter, borrow any jackets lately?" He calls out, causing her to swivel and face him.

"Harvey," she coos in a voice that goes straight to his groin.

"Donna," he counters and for a split second she's taken back to a bar, watching as a young Harvey tried to hit on her relentlessly.

"I thought I might find you here," he says, taking a few steps in her direction.

"I was feeling sentimental," she responds, dropping her hands to her sides.

"About the night I asked you to marry me?"

"And the day we first met," she replies, glancing around the hall one more time.

"It's almost like nothing has changed since that day," she adds.

"I mean, you're still the smartest woman I know."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Specter," she smirks, moving to stand by his side.

"It didn't back then. I remember trying so hard to impress you, and you never went for it."

"Can I let you in on a little secret?" She smirks, turning so her body is facing his.

"I went for it, I was yours from the moment you put your jacket over my shoulders."

"That always was my lucky jacket," he muses, running his hand down her forearm until his fingers slide between hers.

"I'm pretty sure I was the one who made it lucky for you," she laughs, knowing he was just as much of a romantic as she was and that that day meant a lot to him too.

"Did you ever think we would get here? Get to have all this? After that day we first met I mean?" She asks, stepping close enough to him to have their breaths mingle.

"I always knew you'd graduate at the top of the class, ever since that day I ran into you and you were dripping wet. I knew you would make one hell of a lawyer, even back then. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd be lucky enough to share all of that with you."

"Harvey-" she sighs, his statement making her tear up.

"I always thought that running into you that day was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, but then you told me you loved me and that became the greatest thing. And then you agreed to marry me, and we had those beautiful kids that are likely out there driving Mike crazy. Basically what I'm trying to say is, I learned that as long as I'm with you, every day is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Because you're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."

"Not making name partner?" She teases, even though her eyes are now glossy and tear-filled and her voice is quivering.

"That doesn't even come close to comparing to the day you took my last name," he replies, leaning in to steal a kiss.

"What about signing that big baseball star?"

"Doesn't even crack the top ten," he grins, his hands taking up residence on her hips, anchoring her closer to him.

"What about-?"

"Donna, you and those kids, you'll always be my everything," he cuts her off before she can ask another question.

"I love you, wholeheartedly," she smiles, leaning in to kiss him, a kiss he deepens immediately.

"Now, what do you say we go visit the library? Take a little trip down memory lane?" He asks, wagging an eyebrow at her suggestively, while still holding her against him.

"What about the kids?"

"With their godparents," he mumbles between the kisses he's peppering her lips with, "Besides, I'm feeling extra sentimental about our first time."

"Our first time was at your apartment," she points out, hands falling to his chest.

"I meant our first time on campus," he winks, taking her hand and leading her down the hall.

She stops abruptly half way down the hall, peering into their old classroom. He watches as she slowly wanders in and studies the formation of the desks, noting that the current class must be going through a mock trial. She takes a seat on what would be the opposing councils bench, swinging her legs as she smirks at him.

"What?" He asks, a sly grin on his face.

"Would you have told me how you felt if we hadn't done that trial?"

"Eventually," he states, taking a seat next to her on the countertop.

She falls silent as she peers around the room, taking it all in. He watches her for a few moments, content to just sit by her side while she recalled the past.

"Hey, I have an idea," he says, hoping down off the desk and heading towards the door.

"What?"

"I'm going to go and get Amelia and Gordon, show them where we went to school."

"Oh, I love that," she gushes, following him back out into the hall.

"Are you going to tell them this is where I kicked your ass in debate?" She smirks as they begin to stroll towards the exit, hand in hand.

"I was going to tell them this is where I met and fell in love with their mother," he says, turning to kiss her before she has a chance to respond.

"Mommy!" Amelia calls as she runs down the hall towards her parents, launching herself into Donna's arms as she steps away from Harvey.

"Hi princess," Harvey greets her, as his eyes wander to where Mike and Rachel we're approaching them with Gordon.

"I figured you'd be here and well, they were getting pretty restless," Rachel explains as Harvey scoops Gordon up in his arms.

"Do you guys want to see where daddy met mommy?" Harvey asks, leading his kids down the hall, taking his wife's hand in his as he begins to tell them a story that begins with once upon a time and ends with happily ever after.

* * *

_To my beta, May, there are not enough thank you's for your time, ideas and support._

_To everyone has followed along with this story for the past four months, thank you for your kind words, comments, support and for coming on this little law school journey with me. It really has been a blast to play with these characters in Boston. _

_xx S _


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